


Morning Skyscrapers

by DrownedOutStars



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Ben Solo is a goddamn cinnamon roll, Ben falls incredibly hard and fast for Rey, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Character Death, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gore, Gory Descriptions, Human/Vampire Relationship, Mating Bond, Minor Character Death, Modern AU, Oral Sex, Police Officer Ben Solo, Protective Ben Solo, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey has some issues, Rey is 'that bitch', Rey is obsessed with 80s music, Rey tries to pretend that she doesn't care but she does, Rough Sex, Shower Sex, Soft Ben Solo, Soul Bond, Suicide Attempt, Vaginal Fingering, Vampire Bites, Vampire Poe Dameron, Vampire Rey (Star Wars), Vampire Turning, Vampires, vampire finn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:53:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 57,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23311096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrownedOutStars/pseuds/DrownedOutStars
Summary: Rey has been living for far too long, having seen most of history unfold as she stays the same. She finally decides to try to end it, but an unsuspecting stranger stops her. And he just had to be a police officer, didn't he?(Completed)
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 48
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I literally got this idea in my head at five in the morning and was like "huh, interesting". So I wrote it. I'll make the chapters longer in the future, and I honestly hope this AU is as fun as it is in my head.

"Ah, shit! Shit, shit, shit!" Finn cursed loudly as he panicked, Rey muttering words of annoyance under her breath as she lit a cigarette. The lighter from the flame exposed her blood soaked hands in the dark, her mouth and chin smeared with the heavy red substance.

"Finn, relax, you did a fine job,"

"A fine job?! Rey, I nearly killed him! If you hadn't of come here in time, Poe would be--he'd be--" Finn choked out a whimper as he looked down at Poe's unconscious body on the dark alley ground. Finn had nearly decapitated him due to hunger, but Rey had made it all better by feeding her blood, after feeding on him, to her companion's human lover. He wouldn't be human once he woke up, though. 

"Just be thankful that you have an oldie like me, eh? I was strong enough to turn him, you owe me a favor."

"Christ, Rey, I'll bring the fucking moon down to you, if you want!" Finn fell to his knees, gently placing Poe's head in his lap as he shakily ran a hand through his boyfriend's hair. 

"The moon, huh? I've always been more of a stars kinda gal. Maybe you can grab me Orion's Belt," She chuckled as she took a drag of her cigarette, bringing it away from her lips to exhale the smoke into the chilly New York night air. She had been around for centuries now, she had seen New York built, and it was by far her most favorite city in America. She missed the things that had vanished with time, though. It's not that she hated change, she simply just wished she could pause time for a singular moment to catch her breath. Years felt like seconds, centuries like minutes, and for once in hundreds of years, she would like to experience time as a human does. 

She had lived so long, seen so many things, and Finn had only been a recent companion. She had turned him in 1924 in this very city at the harbor, having found his personality compatible as they talked about the sea and she turned him out of sheer loneliness. She never regretted it, they became extremely close friends. They were practically brother and sister at this point, and she would always take care of him.

But she was growing bored with living.

It had been centuries, at least eight, and she was simply getting tired of existing. Finn had Poe now, she had given him a life mate to replace her. He would no longer need her, she had already taught him everything he needed to know over the course of ninety-six years, and she was glad things had fallen into the right, proper place. She could finally be at peace now. 

She wouldn't tell Finn this, of course, but she knew he would feel it when she gave herself to the sun at dawn in an hours' time.

"Take him home, yeah? Get cozy with him in the den, there are fresh blood bags in the cooler in there that I restocked. Don't leave his side no matter what, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Finn nodded while still looking down at Poe, Rey sighing quietly as she put out her cigarette. 

\------------------------------------------

Rey had gone back home to shower, slipping out of her window as she felt Finn fall asleep down in the basement. She scaled down the brick wall of the apartment building before landing on her feet and hurriedly rushing off to the place she had chosen to meet the sun. The sun was only fifteen minutes away, her feet carrying her as fast as they could to their destination.

She had chosen the top of a parking lot building.

There weren't really any places she found better, she liked the view on this parking lot roof and there were barely any humans that parked at the top, so she found the place as satisfactory as it could be. 

She began to run up the steps when she reached it, her inhuman speed bringing her to the top in the blink of an eye. Once she reached the top, she paused before slowly walking over to the edge and rested her arms on the concrete railing. It was peaceful her, she would be at peace when she turned to ash and floated away in the wind. 

"Excuse me, ma'am," What--who the fuck was that? "Ma'am, you can't be up here this early," 

Rey spun around to see a security guard at the top of the stairs, the man looking out of breath. Had he...chased her all the way up here?

She cocked her head to the side curiously as she absorbed him, her eyes quickly looking him up and down. He was tall, incredibly so, with jet black wavy hair that reached the middle of his neck. He was extremely well built for a man as well, in her time he would have most definitely been a warrior of some type. He had beauty marks delicately placed all over his face, his face handsome in the most peculiar way. He was certainly interesting.

"...Says who?" Rey replied in a snarky tone and he took a deep breath as he flashed his badge. Ah, shit, this wasn't a security officer. This man was a full fledged police officer. Did this really have to happen now?

"The law, ma'am--"

"God, do I look over forty?" Rey groaned in annoyance and the officer opened his mouth to speak before pressing his lips together and furrowing his brows in confusion.

"...No?"

"No, yeah, you're right, I don't, so, stop calling me 'ma'am'." She rolled her eyes and he straightened up as his shoulders as he cleared his throat.

"Fine then, _miss_ ," His voice dripped with smugness at the word, and, oh boy, did it piss her off. "I'll need you to escort yourself off the rooftop."

"What will you do if I don't? Arrest me?" Rey snorted and the man gave her a stern look. "You'd seriously arrest me for being on a parking lot rooftop at 6:45 in the morning?"

"It's not available until nine--"

"Alright, well, how about you fuck off," Rey waved her hand at him dismissively, obviously not in the mood for this. "I will literally only be five minutes--"

"Oof, yikes," He sucked in his breath. "You're really cursing at an officer who's politely asking you to vacate the premises?"

"'You're really cursing at an officer'," She mocked him in a high pitched tone, her blood boiling at this point. She just wanted to die, why did he have to come and ruin this moment?! "I'm so serious, you need to fuck off--"

"Miss," There was that word again. "Please just get off the rooftop, there really is no need to be hostile. I'm being as nice as--"

"Hostile?!" She snapped, storming over to him with eyes that reflected like a cat's in the quickly vanishing dark. The man jumped at the sight, his eyes widening as she stood before him in under a second. "I am not being 'hostile', I'm asking you to piss off so I can be alone!" She jabbed a finger at his chest, desperately trying to keep her fangs from popping out. 

"...I really didn't want to have to do this," He sighed as he gently grabbed her wrist, Rey biting back a shriek as he tried to lead her down the stairs. The sun was a minute away, this was all she wanted! He had no right to do this to her! 

"Get off, what are you--"

"Please cooperate--"

"How fucking dare--"

"Come on, please, just--"

"Stop it!" Rey tried to jerk her wrist back and he instantly let go, the officer sighing loudly. He looked positively exhausted. He had no right to be exhausted with her, the very nerve! "I will literally only be here for thirty more seconds, can you just--can you just leave me alone?!" She hissed and he clenched his jaw. Ah, he was starting to get frustrated now. Lovely. 

"I really don't want to arrest you, miss, okay? It's almost seven, why don't you...go do yoga or something, I don't know--"

"Yoga?" Rey looked horrified and disgusted all at once. Yoga, of all things? She didn't hate yoga, in fact, she did it from time to time, but what the fuck did yoga have to do with now? What did he want her to do, find her inner zen and apologize to him? "Out of all the things you could've suggested, you chose yoga?"

"I only assumed...your pants..." His eyes flicked down and she almost screamed at herself. She was wearing yoga pants. He had assumed yoga because she was dressed for yoga. Wonderful. "It wasn't meant to be offen--sweet Christ, you're burning?!" It came out of his mouth more like a frantic question, Rey crying out as he pulled her into the stairwell and slammed the door shut. She looked down at the cracked, burnt skin on her arms, watching it heal as she fought back tears. No, no, no, this wasn't supposed to happen! 

"L-let me back out!"

"Are you fucking insane?!" He snapped angrily, the man shielding the door from her with his back pressed tightly against it. "Your skin was burning, and you want to go back out?!"

"It's been too long, I've lived too long, just--just, please...!" She choked, tears welling in her eyes and his face fell in horror as he saw a few tears of blood slide down her cheeks.

"What...the fuck are you...?" He whispered in horror and Rey whimpered loudly as she buried her face in her hands, the brunette no longer being able to hold it back as she began to sob violently with her shoulders shaking. 

"I-I've lived too long, you wouldn't--you wouldn't get it--" She hiccuped loudly as she cried harder, furiously wiping her eyes with her hands. She must've looked like a pathetic, bloody (literally bloody) mess. He would probably take her in and call scientists or something to take her away--she suddenly felt his hands on her shoulders, her eyes snapping up to his as her bottom lip quivered. She must've looked so pathetic. 

"I, uh," He cleared his throat, his hands slightly trembling. He was frightened of her, she could tell that, but at the same time...he wasn't. It was the strangest way a human had ever reacted to her. Even Finn had screamed. "Look," He cleared his throat again and Rey could smell his panic. "...Do you like coffee?"

"Coffee...?" She hiccuped again, the man quickly nodding as he swallowed thickly. "I can't drink coffee...or eat human food..."

"You can't eat human--oh, Christ, okay," He breathed shakily as he let go of her shoulders, the man inhaling loudly as he pushed his hair back. "You're not human, that's obvious."

"I'd rather n-not say out loud what I am," She sniffled as she wiped her eyes again, red staining her hands. She was only crying because she was tired, she told herself. She was not crying because she was secretly grateful she had been stopped. No, she had wanted this. There was no way she was grateful to this stupid police officer. "It always sounds extremely cringy. The media positively ruined my kind with cheap romance and corny novels and movies." 

"...Right," He nodded again, keeping his frantic panic rather well hidden. Well, except for in his eyes. His eyes told her that he was internally screaming. "Will you--will you stay here while I go grab a blanket from the squad car?" He asked as his eyes searched hers, and she couldn't help but feel comforted by the soft brown gaze.

"Alright," She barely whispered, unsure why she said it. 

"Okay, good, just--just stay there, don't go outside," He ran down the stairs, Rey watching him go with a shocked expression. A blanket? Was he going to...? 

"My God, he's going to wrap me up to protect me from the sun." If she could blush, her face would be bright red. This police officer, this man she didn't know whatsoever and was rather rude to him, was going to grab a blanket to wrap her up and carry her out to safety from the sun. Where would he put her, his trunk? Could he lose his job because of that? Where would he even take her, to the police station? To his house? She couldn't go back to her and Finn's apartment until the sun went down, she had had automatic locks put on the door that wouldn't let anyone come in until the sun set. It had seemed like a genius plan at the time, but now she realized how stupid it had been. 

She saw him running back up to her with a large white quilt, the man getting to the top of the stairs and handing it to her. "You can, uh, wrap yourself up if you want--or I can wrap you up. I can carry you, whatever you--"

"I'll allow you to carry me, just be careful when you put me in the trunk." She sighed as she wrapped herself up, the only thing visible her face as she stared up at him with tired hazel eyes. She wasn't supposed to be up past sunrise, and soon her body would start failing if she didn't find a dark place to sleep. 

"The--the trunk? Can I not put you in the backseat? Putting you in the trunk seems kinda...wrong,"

"Just let me sleep in your trunk, officer." She deadpanned and his cheeks lightly turned red.

"Solo," He blushed darker. "Ben Solo, I'm Officer Ben Solo."

"Ben, huh...?" She had to waddle over to him because of how tightly she wrapped the quilt around herself, and she felt like she looked like the most ridiculous penguin in the history of existence. "I'm Rey."

"Just Rey?"

"Just Rey," She sighed, the sides of her vision beginning to blacken. Shit. "Please carry me now, I am about to collapse." Her knees wobbled and he easily caught her in his arms, picking her up bridal style and holding her tightly against his chest. 

Her vision faded in and out as he ran with her down the stairs, his heartbeat pounding in her ears like the EDM music that played at those obnoxious clubs Finn always tried to take her to. Except she liked his heart's song, it was playing just for her. "Hang on, I've got you," He muttered under his breath and Rey let out a small coo as she closed her eyes and snuggled against him. He smelled so goddamn good, why didn't she notice this before? When she would wake up around sunset and remember this, though, she would most certainly be livid that she had snuggled into his chest like a lovesick puppy.

The last thing she felt before succumbing to darkness was Ben placing her as gently as he could in the trunk of his squad car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, okay, I'm genuinely having fun with this.
> 
> Edit: I've been informed that the italics from my keyboard were a little wonky, and I sincerely apologize for that! I'll have to figure out how to write italics on here ^^;  
> Edit edit: I figured out how to do italics on here!

Ben closed the car door as he sat down in the driver's seat, his eyes wide as he stared forward. 

There was a girl in his trunk. There was a non-human girl in his trunk. In the trunk of his squad car.

"Fuck," He gently hit his head against the steering wheel, his breath shaky as his pulse jumped wildly. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_!" Where would he even take her?! She had passed out before he could even ask her where she lived, and he hadn't remembered to ask amidst his panic in the stairwell. "There is a girl in the trunk of my police car," His hands were shaking now. "With blood all over--oh, Christ, with blood all over her face!" Ben felt like he was going to faint. 

He sat on the lower parking lot level for thirty minutes, silently freaking out as he tried to figure out what he could possibly do in this situation. Obviously he hadn't thought this out, but what was he supposed to do? Let her burn in the sun like some sort of-- "Shit, vampire..." He let out a dry laugh as he gripped the stirring wheel tightly, it all coming together in his head. The weird reflective eyes, the burning in the sun, her inhumanly fast moments...he had put a vampire in the back of his trunk. 

"...Where do you live?" His voice cracked slightly as he raised it, the police officer praying to God that she answered. After five minutes of silence, he groaned loudly before starting up the car and backing out. "I really wish you were human, this would be so much easier for me, you know that? I could've gotten you coffee or something, taken you to some dumb yoga studio, but no," He was rambling now, as he always did when he was nervous. "No, no, you just had to walk out of horror movie, huh?" He paused at a red light. "N-not that you're terrifying looking! You're--you're really pretty, but--uh--" He quickly shut his mouth as he gripped the steering wheel tightly once more, his body incredibly tense as his nerves became even more fried. Could she even hear him in her sleep? Was it like normal sleep? He'd never met a vampire, much less known they'd existed, before, and he had no idea what to do.

He quickly flipped on the radio, The Pretenders quietly singing 'Don't Get Me Wrong' from the speakers. He tried to let the music soothe his nerves as he softly sang along, his voice barely a whisper in case she could hear, as he continued to drive.

He was taking her to his house.

He hated that he was, it felt incredibly wrong, but where else was he supposed to take her? He could put her in the darkest corner of the living room on the couch, he could cover her with more blankets and just wait until she--

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing, the phone laying on the passenger seat. _Shit,_ he thought as he felt the anxiety pouring back at his mother's ringtone (he had gone with the chorus for Major Tom for her ringtone back when he was eighteen). Here he was, thirty years old, and his mother's ringtone still gave him anxiety. Wasn't that common with all mothers, though? No matter at what age?

He let it go to voicemail (a thing he already regretted) as he pulled up to his condo. "It's only seven fifteen in the morning and I already have had a day's worth of shit," He shakily ran a hand through his hair as he inhaled sharply through his nose, the police officer once more trying to calm his nerves. The sun was already shining brutally and he was trying to think of how he could run her inside. He wasn't going to just leave her in the trunk, that'd be monstrous. He'd scream if he woke up in the trunk of a car, wouldn't she do the same? "Okay, okay, okay," He turned the key in the ignition, the car shutting off as he undid his seatbelt. "Okay, okay, okay," He repeated as he threw his door open and got out, the man letting out a shuddering breath as he approached the trunk. 

He stood there for five minutes just staring down at the trunk with his hands on his hips, his brows furrowed as he absentmindedly tapped his foot on the concrete driveway anxiously. "Okay," He finally mustered out, clearing his throat before his voice could waver. God, this was a fucked situation. "So--so, I'm gonna just...take you out of the trunk and run you inside," His hands trembled as he placed them on the trunk, his heart thudding in his chest as he did so.

It all happened in under a minute.

He threw open the trunk, scooping her up as quickly as he could (not even bothering to shut the trunk), running to his front door and kicking it open (he thanked God he had stupidly forgot to lock his door before he left), and ran to the living room. "There!" He spoke breathlessly as he laid her down on the couch, the young girl (she couldn't be more than twenty, right?) looking completely unphased in her slumber. He collapsed on the floor, planting his feet on the ground with his knees bent as he sat. He grabbed at his hair, squeezing his eyes shut as he focused on his breathing. 

He had safely brought her inside, but at what cost? Why was he doing this in the first place? He guessed it was because he wanted to be a good samaritan, a caring police officer who wanted to help out a crying woman...

But this woman cried blood and burned in the sunlight, was she really a woman at all? What if she tried to eat him or something when she woke up? What if she would tear him to shreds?

But she had been so sad when she looked at him. She had looked so sad, there was no light whatsoever in her eyes when she had broken down in front of him. 

_"I-I've lived too long, you wouldn't--you wouldn't get it--"_ Her words echoed in his head and he glanced over at her with a small frown. How long had she been around? How many years had she walked this earth in order to want to end her life? He had caught her trying to commit suicide, he had seen her skin burning...and he wasn't supposed to save her from that like a decent human being should? Would she hate him when she woke up? Would she kill him over that?

"I really wish you were human so I could've just gotten you coffee..." He sighed as he looked back forward and hung his head, only for his head to snap up as she snorted softly in her sleep. Had she heard him this entire time?!

He bolted up to his feet, his eyes wide as he stared down at her. Her lips were curled up in a smirk, and his face turned red. Yes, she could hear him. She could hear him perfectly in her sleep. 

He left the living room hurriedly, going out the front door and going back out to his squad car to shut the trunk and grab his phone. Three missed calls from his mother now. Wonderful, simply splendid. He dialed up her number and put his phone to his ear as he stared down into the trunk. There was a singular stain of blood on the grey carpet interior. Shit.

"Hey, Ma, I'm sorry for not answering, I'm on duty--"

 _"Ben, I need you at the station. Officer Dameron didn't come in today, did you seem him at all last night? He's not returning any of mine or Connix's calls."_ He hated that his mother was the chief of police. The other officers constantly told him that he was only in the position he was in the squadron because his mother was the chief of police, but he had worked his ass off at the academy. He had no help from his mother, he had done it all himself. Christ, he wasn't even the lieutenant! That was Kaydel Connix! Yet the other officers still gave him shit and called him things such as 'Momma's boy'. 

"Poe didn't come in this morning?" He asked as he slammed the trunk closed, locking the car as he walked back to his front door. "I'm sure he just went out drinking last night, you know Dameron, He's a party enthusiast."

 _"He always answers his phone. Can you just come down to the station? You have duty with Officer Hux anyways."_ Ben groaned loudly at this without meaning to as he closed the door behind him, the man walking to his kitchen and opening his refrigerator. He needed water, this whole ordeal left him feeling as if he had been dehydrated in the desert for weeks. 

"Uh, you know, I'm actually already patrolling," He lied as he grabbed a water bottle. He physically could not deal with Hux right now. "Just get Phasma to go with him, I know she's already there. I'll call Poe, alright? I'll come down to the station later, I promise."

 _"Ben,"_ Leia sighed on the other line, Ben undoing the water bottle cap with one hand before taking three vigorous sips. _"You're so lucky that you're my son, you know that?"_ He almost cried in relief at her agreeing to let him continue 'patrolling'. There was no way in hell he was leaving Rey here unattended. 

"Yes, yes, just don't tell the others you're giving me special treatment," He let out a chuckle, but it came out more shaky than intended. Shit, he hoped she didn't notice. She was quite the mother hen and he did not need her fretting over him right now. He was already fretting over the vampire on his couch.

 _"You're going to be the death of me one day, Ben, I swear."_ She hung up the phone and he placed it on the kitchen counter, chugging the rest of the water bottle before gasping quietly and slamming it down on the counter. He glanced over at the clock on the oven. Seven thirty-five. How was it only seven thirty-five?! 

"Oh, Christ..." He laughed dryly as he rested his elbows on the counter, holding his head in his hands. He had really brought a vampire into his home, didn't he? 

He picked his phone back up, dialing Poe's number as he started pacing his kitchen. After thirty rings, his voicemail came on. 

_"Heyo, this is Poe Dameron! I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!"_

"Hey, Poe," Ben rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he craned his neck to look into the living room. Yes, she was still on the couch. Why was he scared that she had moved? "Chief Organa and Lieutenant Connix have been blowing up your phone all morning, man, where are you? I really told you to lay off those stupid clubs." Ben laughed nervously as he continued to stare at her sleeping form. She would've looked angelic...if she had been breathing. Instead he felt like he was watching a corpse. It was rather incredibly unnerving. Was she technically a corpse? "So, uh..." He trailed off slightly as he took a step towards the living room. "Call me back, okay? Get your ass up and drink a cup of coffee or something. Just call me back." He hung up the phone, putting it down on the kitchen island before going back out to the living room and staring down at her. 

"...Do you know where Poe is?" He whispered and her hand twitched. Was that a yes?

"Did you--did you eat Poe...?" He swallowed thickly as he slowly sat on the floor in front of her, another soft snort escaping her nose. "I can't--I can't tell if that's a yes or no, Rey," He felt like he was going to faint yet again. Had she eaten Poe the night before? Had she seduced him at a club? Had she used some weird trance thingy like they do in True Blood? He had only seen True Blood once, and he couldn't get past the first season. It just wasn't his scene. 

And yet he had brought a real life vampire into his house.

"Please, please tell me you didn't eat Poe," He pleaded and her hand twitched again. He wasn't going to get an answer while she was sleeping. He sighed loudly as he turned around, resting his back against the couch as he closed his eyes.

What the fuck had he gotten himself into?


	3. Chapter 3

When Rey woke up, the song 'Don't Get Me Wrong' gently fading as her eyes opened, she instinctively bolted up with wide eyes. Where was she? Where was Finn and Poe? Why wasn't she--

The rooftop. The sun. The stairwell. _Ben._

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark, seeing that was completely alone in his living room. "Is this--is this shag carpet?" Rey stared dumbly down at the ground, her mouth slightly agape from the sheer horror of seeing such a thing. She had _hated_ shag carpet in the seventies. It was incredibly tacky and _incredibly_ tough to get bloodstains out of. She could recall many times where she'd be scrubbing the carpet vigorously for hours at a time. 

She gently swung her legs to the side, her tennis shoe soles planting themselves firmly on the--God, rust? Rust colored shag carpet? _Who_ was this man and who let him decorate this place? She prayed to God that he bought it with this horrid carpet. 

She stood up, the blanket falling off of her and landing at her feet as she stretched. "Rise and shine," She muttered sarcastically as she sluggishly searched the condo for the bathroom. It was a nice place, she'd admit that, with two stories and spotlessly clean. She couldn't find a trace of dust anywhere, and she silently prayed that this man wasn't a serial killer. Only serial killers could keep their house this freakishly clean, right? Well--technically she was a serial killer, and she was a slob, but she didn't count that. Besides, if he was a serial killer, she'd be doing the world right by making him her first meal of the night.

She finally found the bathroom on the second floor, flipping on the light switch and glaring at herself in the mirror after her eyes adjusted to the light and the bright red wallpaper (seriously, who the fuck let this man decorate?). She looked positively _haggard._ Her hair was a rat's nest from sleep, her cheeks caked in dry blood from where she had smeared her tears. "...Rey, what the _fuck_ is wrong with you?" She continued to glare at herself in the mirror. Why had she let herself be saved by him? Why did she let him put her in his trunk? 

She looked towards the glass shower, sighing loudly in irritance as she started to undress. Well, she was here, wasn't she? Shouldn't she as well shower before dipping? Maybe she'd write him a note or something, maybe a post it note that just read "fuck you". She'd at least be acknowledging him with the note, at least. She didn't have to say "thank you", she wasn't obligated to kiss up to him and say "Oh, my _hero,_ what ever would I do without you"? No, _fuck_ that. 

She walked over to the shower, turning it on, and as she waited for it to start steaming, she brushed her hair with the brush on the bathroom counter. Brushing her hair _hurt_ without her detangling spray, and she found herself snarling in pain at her reflection in the mirror as she dragged the brush roughly through her hair. 

After ten minutes of yanking her hair with the brush, all tangles were removed and she sighed in relief as she ran her hands through her shoulder length chestnut colored hair. She wished she could cut it, preferably to chin length, but even if she tried, it would only immediately grow back. There were some cons to being a vampire, obviously. The main one is eating people. _Obviously._

She hopped in the shower, letting out a hiss of satisfaction as the boiling hot water hit her sunkissed skin. She loved hot showers, the hotter the better. She liked to feel like her skin was peeling off, it gave her the feeling of being alive. It was kinda sad that that was one of the only things that made her feel alive anymore, (pain, that is) but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Well, she did, she had all the time in the world--she supposed she just wouldn't properly acknowledge it. She'd rather turn a blind eye to her self destructive ways rather than confront them. "If you can't see it, it doesn't exist", that's the saying, isn't it?

She stayed in the shower for a good fifteen minutes, absolutely having a blast looking at this man's shampoo. Pantene. The man used _Pantene._

"His hair is rather bouncy looking, innit?" She giggled as she washed the shampoo and conditioner from her hair (the man had _six_ different conditioners), washing her body with simple body wash (she was surprised there wasn't a sugar scrub hiding around here somewhere). She turned the shower off, opening the glass door with a contented sigh before stepping out and grabbing a towel off the towel rack. She dried off, drying her hair furiously with the towel and laughing at the mess it had become when she pulled the towel away. 

She brushed her hair again, leaving the bathroom (with the wet towel on the floor because she's _that_ person) and prancing to his room to see if she could steal clothes of his or something. Maybe she could make a dress out of one of his shirts? She threw open the closet door, humming as she flipped through the shirts hanging on the hangers. "Oh, sick, no way!" She gasped loudly as she yanked a vintage Ozzy Ozbourne shirt from the rack, squealing excitedly as she looked at it. She once went to an Ozzy concert back in ninety-three, she had ridden Finn's shoulder and had screamed along to the lyrics. Good times. 

She yanked the shirt on, thanking God when it went down to her mid thighs, and began to tear through his drawers in his closet to see if she could swipe some socks or something. "Striped red socks?" She pulled out the pair of socks, staring at them in horror. She wanted to burn them. She honestly wanted to burn a lot of things in this man's house. 

She begrudgingly pulled on the socks before exiting the closet, snooping around his room curiously. It was just a basic, nice bedroom with a bed and a nightstand beside it, all of the furniture black, and even his bedsheets and comforter were black. "Black and red? Is that his favorite theme?" She murmured to herself as she looked under the bed, looking for anything and everything to give her clues about this man, this Officer Ben Solo. "Nope, there's nothing under here." She sighed as she got back up, placing her hands on her hips as she looked around the room again. "Does he stress clean? Is that it? Is he like Finn?" She huffed, tapping her foot impatiently on the (yes, this room had that same awful shag carpet) floor. She suddenly eyed a record player on his desk in the corner of the room, Rey arching a brow as she wondered how she didn't notice it before.

"Hi, gorgeous," She purred as she walked towards it, seeing a record already laying beside it. "We were listening to Simple Minds, huh? This is a good album too," She smiled as she flipped Simple Mind's 'Themes - Volume 2' over in her hands to read the back. "Oh, my God, I have to!" She squealed as she read the title of one of the songs, quickly taking the record out of the sleeve and gently placing it onto the record player. Leaving could wait as 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' started blasting from the record player. She happily sang along, dancing without a care. 

She didn't hear the front door downstairs open, nor the footsteps coming up the stairs. 

"HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY! OOOO--hi," She nearly fell middance as she saw him standing in the doorway with a shocked expression, Rey clearing her throat as she smoothed her (his) shirt down. "I'll just--it's so loud--" She cleared her throat louder before scurrying over to the record player and shutting it off, the brunette pushing her hair back as she looked back at him. 

"I'm sorry, I went out to get ice--you--...that's my shirt--"

"Your carpet is disgusting." Rey cut him off, Ben blinking in shock and shook his head once as he tried to process what was happening. She had showered. In his bathroom. She put his shirt on. She was just dancing around in his room half naked. This had to be a prank show, right? Some stupid thing for the garbage that was now MTV?

"...I'm sorry?" He spoke slowly in an awkward, apologetic tone, Rey nodding violently as she put her hands on her hips as she didn't stop switching from one foot to the other. God, this was horribly awkward.

"Just burn it,"

_"What?"_

"Just burn it, burn the carpet. Your wallpaper color is also horrendous, did you choose it? Did you choose that bright of a red for your house theme? Is it so bright because you want the neighbors to see it all the way down the street?"

"I--what--" He put his hands on the doorway, staring at her with a thoroughly confused expression. Why was she insulting his decorating tastes? He liked them perfectly fine! "You're wearing my shirt--" Oh, great, that's what decided to come out of his mouth again? He wanted to scream at himself.

"...Yes," Rey looked down at the shirt. "I am."

"Why?"

"Did you see my clothes? I got blood all over them from my pathetic breakdown, I'm not walking in the streets with blood on my--"

"But you're half naked this way!" He threw his hand towards her, his cheeks burning. Way to go, Captain Obvious. 

"No, it's like...a cute dress or something, I've seen people wear weirder things here. I think my favorite was the man I saw that was standing outside of Grand Central Station that was just wearing a cardboard box and scuba diving goggles. He looked as if he really enjoyed life, I wonder what his secret was..." She looked off thoughtfully, Ben pressing his lips together as he stayed silent to that. How was he supposed to answer that?

"Anyways, I'm leaving," She shrugged and she began to walk towards the doorway, but Ben blocked her from leaving. "Excuse me--"

"You're just gonna leave?"

"Aw, did you get attached?" Rey sarcastically cooed in a taunting baby voice, standing up on her tippy toes and pinching his cheek gently. "Did mister officer get a crushy wushy?"

"I'm _concerned_ about you," He swatted her hand away, her face falling for a moment before hardening. 

"You don't _know_ me--"

"I know your name is Rey and you like destroying other people's rooms, and that you also shit on people's decorating skills--"

"You have rust colored _shag_ carpeting! I am the majority here in hating it!" She hissed loudly, her pupils turning to slits which caused him to jump slightly. "I didn't want you to save me, Ben! You're a real fuckwad for--"

"I'm a fuckwad?" He arched an eyebrow as he deadpanned, Rey bristling with rage as she clenched her fists while clenching her jaw tightly. "I'm a fuckwad for saving you? Really?"

"YES!" She screamed and he jumped again as he saw her fangs pop out. Jesus Christ, they looked _sharp._

"Rey," His tone was full of warning (and fear, but he tried to hide that) as he looked down at her, Rey snarling quietly in response. Was this how he was going to die?

"Move out of the way," She hissed lowly, Ben breathing shakily as he tensed up. "Or I will move you myself."

Ben opened his mouth to speak but closed it before sighing and moving to the side, the officer not knowing how he could make a case for her to stay. It'd be weird for her to stay anyways, right? 

"Paint your walls a different color, no one's going to want to fuck you with this color surrounding them." She pushed past him harshly, Ben whirling around to watch her go. "Have a good life, Officer Ben Solo." She gave him a half hearted salute at the top of the stairs before she ran down them, Ben standing there with an unsure expression. 

"...You, too," He sighed loudly.

\---------------------------------------------------------

"Rey?!" Finn swung their apartment door open, Rey giving him a curtsey with a smirk. "Jesus, Rey, where have you--"

"Oh, you know, out and about." She cut him off as she walked in, the scent of a newborn hitting her immediately. Ah, so Poe was awake. He was probably hiding in the den, curled up in the bed in there under the covers. All newborns were terrified at first, she remembered how frightened she had been quite vividly.

"Where are your clothes?" Finn asked as he closed the door, Rey humming as she went to the fridge and opened it. Rows and rows of blood bags greeted her. 

"I slept with a victim," She lied as she grabbed a blood bag, tearing it open and pouring the contents down her throat. Oh, _God,_ she had needed that. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out or anything."

"Freaked me-- _freaked me out?!_ Rey, I woke up and you weren't here! You always sleep in, I normally have to bribe you with a blood bag to make you crawl out of your nest!"

"Just because I burrow myself under a bunch of blankets on my bed does not make it a nest," She took the empty blood bag and threw it in the trash. "If anything, it's my own personal little den."

"So, a nest?" Finn smirked and Rey flipped him off as she started walking off to her room. "Hey, are you not going to come out and feed with us?" Finn called out to her as she continued to walk.

"Nope, I'm good!" She called back, slamming her door behind her and taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes. 

_"...Do you know where Poe is?"_ Rey's eyes flew open as she recalled Ben's voice from when she was asleep, the brunette completely freezing up. 

Shit.

She hadn't cleaned the blood up from the alleyway.

The police had probably already found it.

_"...Fuck--"_


	4. Chapter 4

"Rey, you did _what_?!" Finn snapped loudly and Rey pressed her back against the kitchen counter. Finn had heard her curse loudly in her bedroom, having rushed in and asked what was wrong, and everything kinda just...slipped out of her mouth.

"Who was the police officer?" Poe asked hoarsely, his voice sounding scratchy from the thirst that was most likely eating his throat alive. That had been the hardest part of turning for Rey. Luckily, this wasn't eight hundred years ago, so Poe had a glass full of blood in it sitting right in front of him as he sat at the kitchen island. This was his tenth glass, but honestly, nobody was blaming him. 

"Officer--"

"His name doesn't matter right now!" Finn snapped again as his fangs popped out and Rey instinctually hissed quietly at him. Animal instincts were also a huge con of vampirism. "What matters is why you were up on a parking lot rooftop at six forty-five in the morning! Why were you up there, Rey?!" 

She hadn't told him why she went up there. How could she tell him, her progeny, that she was going to give herself to the sun?

"...He may have saved me from doing--doing a not so good thing," She cleared her throat awkwardly as she folded her arms across her chest defensively, her eyes darting away from Finn's. 

"What not so good thing, Rey?" There was fear in his voice, a sickening dread in his tone.

"We don't need to talk about it--"

"Yes, we do! Dammit, Rey, _yes,_ we do! Why didn't you tell me you were in pain? Why didn't you tell me that you were emotionally hurting--"

"It was none of your concern!" She barked out, her fangs popping out as her pupils turned to thin slits. Poe jumped at this while cursing loudly, Rey instantly retracting her fangs while mumbling an apology to him. He was jumpy because of the transformation, she needed to remember that. 

"...I'm talking to you about this later, and you can't stop it from happening." He slid into the chair next to Poe, Poe scooting closer to him. Finding your life mate was a truly beautiful thing, and while the idea of romance absolutely sickened her, she found herself incredibly happy for them. 

"I would still like to know the police officer's name?" Poe grabbed his glass, drinking it completely down and shuddering as he put the glass back down. 

"Oh, right," Rey turned around and opened the fridge, grabbing another blood bag for Poe to put in his cup. "Ben Solo."

" _'The Refrigerator' Solo?_ "

Rey dropped the blood bag on the floor at this.

"The _what_ Solo?" She slowly looked over her shoulder at him with a horrified expression, a hint of fluster also there. 

"It was his nickname at the academy, I'm sorry," He laughed before immediately stopping, his hand flying to his throat as he gagged. She would suspect laughing would hurt, yeah.

She quickly bent down and picked up the blood bag, standing back up to shove it at him. He quickly grabbed it, ripping it open and drinking it completely dry. "God, why does it have to be _cold_?" He gagged again as a shiver went down his spine, Finn chuckling quietly beside him.

"It's better than waiting for the microwave, don't you think?" Finn gently nudged his shoulder and Poe sighed as he nodded.

"No, no, hang on-- _hang on_ \--go back to whatever the fuck you just said," Rey waved her hands frantically, Poe blinking in response. 

"It was his nickname at the academy, the man is built like a tank. Did--did you not see him, or something?"

"No, I--" She sighed in annoyance as she rubbed her temples. She needed a cigarette. "That's just literally the stupidest nickname I have ever heard in my entire life, and I'm _old,_ and if I ever see him again, I will use it against him." 

Wait. What the fuck did she mean by _if?_ She didn't want to see him again, that was maddeningly absurd! What a silly, stupid, and absurd thought. A silly, silly, silly goose of a thought.

"Did you non-verbally respond in your sleep to him when he asked you about Poe?"

"...I _may_ have smirked--"

"Goddammit, Rey," Finn put his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands, his eyes glaring down at the white marble. "Why are you like this."

"I can't help how I respond in my sleep!" She flared up at him, her fangs threatening to pop out again. "It's not my fault he's some kind of _fucking psychic_ and knew I had something to do with Poe!"

"How much of a bitch were you to him when you woke up?" Oh, he knew her too well.

"...Colossal..." She inhaled sharply and Finn groaned loudly as he leaned down and pressed his forehead against the kitchen island. Poe slowly reached over and started rubbing comforting circles on his life mate's back.

"Once again, Rey, _why_ are you like this?"

"It's...a self destructive defense mechanism..." She muttered under her breath as she played with a strand of her hair, her eyes downcast. Looks like she finally found the time to confront it, it only took about eight hundred years.

"Ben is literally the biggest teddy bear I know, how could you be mean to him?"

"Oh, trust me, she could be mean to _Elmo_ and not feel a thing."

"Elmo...? Really? How could you look at a muppet and be mean to it, _especially_ Elmo?" Poe looked shocked and Rey bit her lower lip. Finn was totally right, she would totally be mean to Elmo. He freaked her out, it wasn't her fault. She found all muppets kind of creepy, as a matter of a fact. She once had a nightmare about Big Bird, actually. She could never watch Sesame Street again after that nightmare.

"I was hungry and pissed off because he saved--he--yeah," She cleared her throat loudly, Finn looking up at her with a concerned expression. "I was just a twat to him, alright? It's not like I can apologize--"

"Oh, yes, you can, and you will." Finn smirked and Rey's face fell. What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean? 

"You're going to go down to the station,"

No.

"You're going to find him,"

Oh, God, please, no.

"And you're going to ask him if they've found any evidence on Poe yet while Poe and I go see if the alley has already been found."

God _fucking_ dammit. 

"What's the point of going down there to see if there's evidence of Poe's 'murder' in the alley if you two are going there anyways?!"

"So you can bat your eyelashes at him and ask him to get rid of the evidence."

Oh, fuck. Oh, _fuck,_ he wanted her to _flirt_ with him?! 

"There's no way that would work on him, Finn! I was a mega bitch to him but just an hour ago and there's no way he'll get rid of the evidence because of that! I fucked up, okay? That's on _me,_ I fucked up."

"You're going to go and try anyways, I do _not_ want to flee the country. I really happen to love our apartment that we've had for, you know, twenty years." Finn narrowed his eyes at her, Rey growling loudly as she looked away. She had no choice.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Ahem, excuse me," Rey tapped on the shoulder of the officer at the front of the precinct. He turned his head towards her, his ice blue gaze staring her down distastefully. Rey could just tell from looking at this man that he was a right proper arse. "I'm looking for Officer Ben Solo?" She batted her eyes as she lowered her sunglasses, the man raising an eyebrow. 

"What happened to your jeans, did you get in a quarrel with a tiger?" He smirked and Rey politely laughed. In reality, she wanted to punch his teeth in. She happened to _love_ her completely shredded up jeans, she had made them herself back in ninety-six. God, she missed true nineties grunge fashion. 

"Ha-ha-ha, good one! You're so funny!" She faked more laughter, pushing her sunglasses back up to hide her eye twitching. "But I desperately need to see Officer Ben Solo, if you don't mind--"

"I could help you out with whatever seems to be your problem," He leaned against the wall with a grin, Rey having to _really_ try to force a smile. If this was a dark alley way, she would've already torn out his trachea. 

"Oh, well, thank you, but this is really a matter for Officer Ben Solo--"

"Are you sure? I would _love_ to help you out--"

"Officer Hux, what seems to be the problem this young woman is having?" A woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun approached them, Rey's eyes flicking over to her behind her sunglasses. 

"I'm looking for Officer Ben Solo," Rey smiled sweetly, trying to appear as less suspicious as humanly possible. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"I can get him for you," The woman smiled and Rey's eyes darted to her badge. Lieutenant Connix, huh? Interesting. "Do you have a name?"

She wanted to say "yes, you stupid idiot, of course I have a name", but instead she went with "Just tell him it's Rey!" in a singsong tone. 

She watched Lieutenant Connix walk off, Rey humming softly as she waited. The redheaded man, known as Officer Wanker (in Rey's head), looked her up and down before tsking and walking away. If she ever encountered him a club, she would make it her mission to eat him.

The moment Ben Solo saw her, he almost tripped over his own feet. He had nearly fainted when Kaydel had knocked on his door and told her there was a 'Rey' here to see him, and the entire walk to the front felt like hours. There she stood, still in his shirt. She hadn't taken it off.

"Oi, Ben!" She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to him loudly, Ben wincing as everyone in the room looked at her and then him. Ah, shit, he was going to be teased about this most indefinitely. 

"Um, hey, Rey," He power walked over to her and past her, Rey catching his drift and quickly following him. 

"Hey, I've got a question to ask you--"

"Why are you here?" He cut her off, Rey blinking in shock as she looked up at him. They were outside now, standing on the concrete pavement in front of the station. "Why are you here, Rey?"

"...For a favor--"

"Why would I do you a favor?" He scoffed with a bitter smile as he looked away, running a hand through his hair as he did so. "I tried to help you and you acted like a complete and total--"

"Cunt, I know," She sighed loudly and his head whipped towards her with an extremely shocked expression. 

"I--I was gonna say 'jerk'," He choked out and Rey blinked before pressing her lips together tightly and nodding. This man really was just a gigantic teddy bear, wasn't he? 

"Okay, yeah, sure, I was a huge, huge jerk," She looked down as she played with a strand of her hair. She always played with her hair when she was nervous. "And I'm really sorry, okay? I'm really, really sorry, Ben. I shouldn't have talked trash about your decorating--" She cut herself off as she groaned loudly and buried her face in her hands. "God, no, that carpet is _awful_ and you need to know that!"

He looked down at her, a softness entering his eyes as she slowly looked up at him. How had he not noticed the adorable freckles on her nose before? They were like teeny tiny little angel kisses. 

"...I will accept your apology on one condition,"

"Yeah?" She slowly smiled and he fell instantly. No, not fell. _Plunged._

"Paint my walls a different color." He cleared his throat as his cheeks burned, Rey blinking before snorting loudly. 

"That's it? You just want me to paint your walls?"

"Well, obviously your opinion on color palette is the most superb in the entire world, so, yes. Yes, I'd like you to paint my walls." 

Was he flirting with her? Was this flirting? Why did she feel all giddy?

"Yeah, I'll...paint your walls," She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, smiling softly up at him. "Why not, we can make it a party."

"Mmn, I don't know about a _party,_ I'm not really a party type of guy,"

"Oh? You're not? What a shame, I'm afraid our personalities aren't compatible then,"

"Oh, really? I don't know, I'm really down to earth about how you trash other people's bathrooms and closets,"

"It's my specialty." She shrugged with a smile and he smiled back at her, a warmth beginning to blossom in Rey's chest.

No.

No, no, stop it. She didn't do romance, it always led to devastation.

"So, um," She ruffled her hair as she looked away. "I need to ask you if you guys found anything on Poe yet." His face fell at this, and a tiny part of her sobbed as the warmth in her chest went away just as fast as it had come. 

"You _did_ have something to do with Poe, didn't you? You heard me in your sleep, didn't you?"

"It's not like that--"

"You ate him, didn't you? You--you _fucking_ ate Poe! Where'd you stash the body, Rey?!"

"God, no, shut _up,_ Ben!" She hissed and he glared down at her, his hands trembling as they curled into fists.

"Poe is Finn's boyfriend and now life mate, alright? I turned him, he is no longer human. His blood in the alley _cannot_ be found, do you understand? My cigarette butt is there, with my DNA on it as well as Poe's blood, and when you run it through the system, nothing will pop up, and it'll be suspicious as all _living_ hell, do you understand?" She yanked her sunglasses off, her eyes reflecting like a cat just like they did up on the rooftop. "Tell me you understand, Ben."

"...You're dead but you still have DNA?" He furrowed his brows, Rey blinking before deadpanning. 

"Where would the DNA go, Ben? To space?" She drawled in a snippy tone, Ben sighing loudly as he shoved his hands in his pockets. She had a point. 

"No," He breathed out and her posture relaxed. "No, we haven't found anything relating to Officer Poe Dameron yet."

"Thank Christ," She sighed in relief as she placed her hand over her non-beating heart. "We don't have to leave the country."

"Right, well, bye," He turned on his heels, stopping as he heard Rey groan loudly.

"I'm sorry I'm so bitchy, I was rude to you again," She sighed loudly, the officer looking over his shoulder at her. "Do you--do you still want me to paint your walls...? I have a whole collection of Home Depot color cards for paint at home in a card collecting binder." 

"You--what a weird thing to collect," He turned fully towards her, Rey shrugging her shoulders as she looked down. "You aren't going to pick the worst color in existence just to spite me, are you?"

"Mmn, I was thinking about 'puke green'," He could see her lips curl up into a smile. "But I've decided that I've tortured you enough when it comes to your decorating. I actually want to make your house color theme decent, if you didn't notice."

"I can't tell with you, your sarcasm is impeccable." He smiled and she scoffed with a smile as she looked away. 

"Right, well...I'll come by your house at some point."

"Oh, a surprise visit? What if I have someone over?"

"Then they'll get to see me fix your horrid wallpaper." She grinned and he bit back loud laughter. She fiddled with the end of her (his) shirt before looking back at him. "I need to go back, I have to go--you know--" She didn't want to say the word 'eat'.

"Oh, right, yeah, of course," He waved his hand dismissively. "I'll be waiting for your surprise visit."

"For sure. See you later, 'The Refrigerator' Solo!" She grinned before going off, Ben smiling as he watched her go.

Wait.

What the _fuck_ did she just call him?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, yeah, here comes the sad train (choo choo). Don't worry, it gets upbeat again! But Rey has a lot of issues.

She stood in the paint section in Home Depot a week later around nine at night, Rey looking back and forth at two shades of green. "What do you think, Finn? Forest green or moss green?"

"What's the difference?"

"Um, _everything_ , Finn," She looked over at him with an insulted expression, Finn rolling his eyes with a smile.

"I think you're freaking out what color to choose because you secretly want him to like it."

"How dare you," She scowled as she snatched several buckets of forest green paint and put them in the disgustingly bright orange cart. "How dare you assume that I care about what this man thinks."

"You were looking between these two shades for thirty minutes, Rey," He threw his hands up defensively with a grin as she glared at him. "One could only assume that that was the case."

"You ever hear that saying 'don't make an arse out of you and me'? Take it into consideration."

"It's supposed to be 'don't make an _ass_ out of you and me', peanut,"

"Your physical existence irritates me and all you bring me is infinite misery." She started pushing the cart forward, Finn laughing loudly as he walked with her. She didn't mean this, of course. It was just the way they teased each other, they'd been doing it for over ninety years. 

"Does he really have shag carpet?"

"God, _yes,_ he does, and I want to rip it out of the very ground and burn it in a rubbish bin." 

"I remember when we had shag carpet, I thought it was lovely--"

"Well, you're just wrong." She huffed and he chuckled quietly while shaking his head. 

"Does he know exactly how old you are? Does he know that you're, you know...an _ancient_?" Finn whispered the last word, Rey's mouth running dry at his words. Her kind didn't exactly live very long lives, as most of them were incredibly stupid and thought they were invincible, which inevitably led to their demise by hunters, and she had outlived all the others. The second oldest vampire, compared to her, she had met was only two hundred, and that was back in the sixties. For all she knew, he could be dead. 

"Uh...no? No, why would I tell him that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because he saved your life." Finn shrugged, and Rey winced visibly. They had had _that_ talk earlier that week, it having lasted several hours. Finn loved her, she was basically his 'big' sister, and she felt extremely bad after their talk. She had been selfish to think she would give herself to the sun. She had been so incredibly stupid to think Finn would instantly move on with Poe. They were _family._

"What do I say? 'Hey, did you know I was born in the year of our Lord twelve-hundred?' How would I bring that up? Besides, I'm just painting his walls. I'm never seeing him again after this."

"You're not?" Finn smirked as he arched a brow, Rey scowling over at him once more as they got to the self checkout aisle. 

"No, I'm _not._ Why would I? I'm just painting his walls to make up for being a mega twat to him. It's completely transparent, there's nothing else there but that."

"I don't know, looking at two colors for thirty minutes, thinking about which one he would like more, makes me think otherwise."

"I'm not--that's not--" She growled in frustration. "Just--be quiet. Just shut your mouth, and be silent," She looked over at him. "Please." Finn smiled and made a locking motion by his mouth, throwing the imaginary key behind his back. 

\-----------------------------------------------------

"Wow, look at--look at that, that's a lot of paint," Poe gawked at her as she walked into the apartment carrying all the paint stacked on one another like it was nothing, Finn walking in behind her and closing the door. "Are you painting his whole house?"

"That's the plan," She sighed as she walked over to the living area, setting all the paint down on the table. 

"I just can't believe you're actually going through with it, and that he's actually letting you go through with it. Then again, Ben is one of the chillest guys I've ever met and he'd probably even let you remodel his kitchen if you asked."

"Do you think he would let me?" She gasped and both Poe and Finn rolled their eyes. Of course she would've taken that literally.

"Just stick to his walls for now, okay? You can remodel his kitchen another day--"

"Oh, no," She laughed loudly as she shook her head, unstacking the paint as she did so. "No, no, I'm not seeing him again after this. Like I told Finn, this is a completely transparent thing. I'm only doing it to make up for being a bitch."

"That's _weird_ that he chose that for you to do to makeup for it, isn't it? Especially since you were the one who completely shit on his wallpaper and he isn't obligated to change it whatsoever? I don't know, I think Ben might actually--"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," She didn't have time for love, for a relationship. She didn't _want_ a relationship in the first place. "Don't you do it." She glared over at him, Poe humming with a smirk as he stared back at her. _God_ , Poe was the smuggest person she had ever met. She adored him for it. "I am _just_ painting his walls."

"Oh, yeah, no, Finn and I paint walls all the time together," She wanted to reach over and smack him upside the head. "I totally get it."

"I have nothing to say to you, you're both terrible, terrible people." Rey inhaled sharply as she looked down at the paint buckets. Ten, she had bought ten. Would that be enough? That'd be enough, right? 

"What are you going to do about his shag carpeting though? It's hideous,"

"Oh, my God, _thank you_! Poe is the only other sane one around here!" She threw her hands up, Finn snorting in amusement as he put the plastic bag down with the paintbrushes in it in front of the paint buckets. 

"Rey only hates it because it's a nightmare to get blood out of."

"Oh, yeah, I would assume it would be," Poe said in a thoughtful tone, Rey fistpumping in celebration. Someone finally understood her hatred for shag carpeting. 

"I think I'm just going to rip it out of the floorboards while I'm there," She grinned as she looked over at the couple. "Afterall, the natural wooden floorboards would look smashing with this green."

" _Smashing?_ Out of all the words in the English dictionary, you chose _smashing?_ " Poe leered at her and she playfully sneered at him, Finn snorting quietly in amusement once more. Sometimes she could be painfully British, and she was well aware of it. Before she had gone to America, she had lived in her homeland for centuries and still visited there from time to time. 

"If you hate it so much, write me a list of synonyms for 'smashing'," 

"Ooh, you're on." Poe winked at her and she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

\---------------------------------------------

Here she stood at his door at one in the morning, Rey instantly regretting coming this late. Why did she come this late, anyways? He was most definitely asleep by now, right? Don't police officers have to get up super early for duty? 

"This was dumb," She dragged a hand through her hair as she stared at his door. "This was by far the most dumbest decision I have ever made in my life. I am garbage. I am utter garbage and I need to go crawl under my blankets at home and scream into my pillow for a good fifteen minutes." She breathed shakily, feeling stupid that she felt this way over this. He didn't mean _anything_ to her, so why did she care this much? 

The door swung open just as she was about to berate herself again.

"...Rey?" Ben blinked with wide eyes, Rey's eyes instantly going to his chest. His _bare_ chest. And--and was he wearing _sweatpants?_ Oh, Ben, no. No, don't stand there looking like _that._

"I--paint--" She held up a bucket of paint, internally screeching at herself at her response. Goddammit, Rey, don't let your brain short circuit because he doesn't _have a shirt on._

"At one in the morning? You...want to paint my walls at one in the morning? On a Tuesday?"

"No, you're right, I should come at three in the morning on a Saturday." She deadpanned, Ben slowly cracking a smile. Oh, no, Ben, don't do _that._

"Come in, I was baking anyways to try to battle my insomnia." Oh, God, he _bakes?_ This man was too pure, she shouldn't be here. She shouldn't taint his pureness with her bloodied (metaphorically bloodied for now) hands. He was too kind, he was too kind to _her._

"I would say it smells good, but...it smells like death to me...because, you know, it's human food,"

"Damn, that's a shame. I think the smell of fresh cupcakes coming out of the oven are the best scent in the world." He grinned as he leaned in the doorway, slipping his hands into his pockets. God, he could throw her across the room if he wanted to, those _muscles_ \--no, Rey, bad. Bad, bad thoughts. 

"So...can I come in?" She asked as she held up the paint bucket again, Ben quickly moving out of the doorway so she could walk in. She really wished she could enjoy the smell of the cupcakes (cupcakes, the man bakes _cupcakes_ ), but the scent only made her taste ashes in the back of her throat. She felt sad for a moment about it before shaking it off and bringing all the paint cans in after kneeling down and stacking them all on top of each other, Ben's jaw dropping as he saw her carry them in effortlessly. 

"You didn't tell me you had _superhero_ strength,"

"More like _supervillain,_ " She smiled as she put the paint buckets down on his living room table, Ben closing the door before walking over to her. "Did you forget I eat people?"

"Completely slipped my mind," He chuckled as he peered over the color of the paint buckets. "Green, huh?"

"I like green," She shrugged as she pulled a ponytail holder off her wrist, pulling her hair back and tying it into a loose ponytail. "It's super calming. Have you ever just sat in a forest to calm your mind? It's better than drugs."

"You can do drugs?" He looked over at her with an alarmed expression, Rey unable to fight off the laughter that poured from her lips. 

"I smoked weed a few times in the sixties, yeah. You think I wasn't living it up at Woodstock, Ben? I was positively _living_ at Woodstock. It was a fever dream of a time, I barely remember anything. I did touch Jimi Hendrix's hand, though." 

"...That's...wonderful to know," He cleared his throat, Rey glancing over at him. He looked flustered, his cheeks burning bright red as he avoided her gaze. 

"Are you going to arrest me for smoking weed in the sixties before you were even born, mister officer? Should I put my hands behind my back right now?" She wiggled her eyebrows playfully, Ben laughing loudly in response. Why was she beginning to love his laugh? 

"I think I can let it slide," He pushed his hair back as he smiled brightly, and Rey had to tear her eyes away from him. You mess with the sun and you get burned, and this man _was_ the sun. He was bright and happy, and Rey was...well, Rey was Rey. She had been a shadow for as long as she could remember.

"You have a ladder?" She changed the subject, Ben nodding as he turned his head towards the hallway. 

"It's folded up in my hallway closet, let me go get it for you, it's no prob--"

"No, I can do it." She took off, going down the hall and opening the closet door while inhaling sharply. Were her hands _shaking_? Why was this happening to her? Why was she crumbling like an avalanche? 

"This is a pretty big, uh, closet," She called out to him as she grabbed the ladder, him humming in response as he walked back into the kitchen. "You could fit a mattress in here, you know that?" 

"I have before, yeah," He called out to her, Rey walking down the hall while carrying the step ladder. If it wasn't tall enough, she could just crawl on the wall and paint the places she couldn't reach. Yes, vampirism included salamander powers. 

"You a chocolate or vanilla type of guy?" She asked as she set up the ladder in front of the front facing living room wall. She didn't need a tarp, she had painted a million times before and she never let it drip. 

"Strawberry," He grinned as he waved his strawberry frosting covered spatula in his hand as his other arm cradled the frosting bowl. This was too much for Rey. 

"S-strawberry, huh?" Her voice cracked slightly as she made a beeline to the table, grabbing a paintbrush and a paint bucket. "Isn't that the least favorite of the most famous ice cream trio in existence?"

"Some people have no taste--"

"You, _you_ have no taste!" She found herself laughing again, and it was the first time in centuries that she was genuinely content with her life. This was nice, this was--Rey, stop. Stop it, Rey, you _can't._

"That's why you're helping me, right?" Goddammit, Ben, stop _smiling_! 

"Uh--uh, yeah," She nodded quickly as she opened the paint bucket with her bare hands, careful to not get paint anywhere. "Yep, I'm here to help. You. I'm here to help you." She cleared her throat as she picked up the paint bucket after opening it, as well as the brush, and she climbed up the ladder, putting the paint bucket on the top ladder step as she stood three steps down. 

"Thanks for this again, obviously I've been blind all these years when it comes to my wall color. It's so obvious to me now why no one comes over,"

"Oh, yeah? Glad you're finally coming to your senses." He was being sarcastic with her. He was using her most famous trait against her. She swore she felt her heart flutter, her knees buckling at the weird sensation. What was _that_?

The house was silent for the next forty-five minutes, Rey clenching her jaw continously as she painted the wall. She could hear him moving around in the kitchen, quietly humming to himself as he pulled the cupcakes out of the fridge and began to frost them. She would've cried at the sight if she turned around and looked. 

"So, you mentioned a guy named 'Finn'? You said he was Poe's...'life mate'?" Ben broke the silence as he frosted the last cupcake, Rey nearly falling off the ladder from the sound of his voice shattering her concentration. "Who's Finn?"

"Finn is my progeny," She looked over her shoulder at him to see him already staring at her. "I turned him in 1924 right here in New York."

"Hang on, you _turned_ him? Didn't you say you turned Poe, too?"

"...Yes,"

"So, now you technically have two progenies,"

"...Yes," She repeated as she gave him a single nod, Ben spotting a bit of paint on her cheek. God, it was _cute_. "I suppose I do have two progenies now, yeah."

"Aren't there rules for stuff like that? Like...some kind of vampire council or something?"

"Ha-ha, _no_!" She burst into laughter. "No, there's no _vampire council_! If there was one, it'd probably only consist of me since I'm the oldest living vampire currently--"

"Wait, how old are you?" He put the spatula down on the tray, Rey swallowing thickly as she looked back forward.

"Twenty,"

"You know what I mean, Rey," Ben sighed and Rey nervously chewed her lower lip. 

"...I was born in the year of our Lord twelve hundred," She breathed shakily and Ben choked on his own spit. 

"You're _eight hundred and twenty_?!" He gawked and Rey scowled angrily at the freshly painted wall. This was exactly why she didn't want to tell him in the first place.

"Yes, I'm literal dust, I get it--"

"It must've been incredible to see everything throughout history," He looked _fascinated_ , and Rey turned to look at him just in time to see the fascination light up his eyes. Goddammit, Ben, you're not supposed to be fascinated by this!

"...I rather enjoyed the eighties--"

"Which eighties?"

"The--the nineteen eighties?" Her voice cracked as Ben furrowed his brows. 

"The nineteen eighties is your favorite era that you've lived in? Why? Why not the eighteen eighties, or the seventeen eighties, or the sixteen eight--"

"The music, Ben, the _music_." She sighed as she stepped down the ladder, hopping off of it. She would finish the wall later, she shouldn't stay here any longer. She couldn't bare another one of his sunshine smiles. "I think I'm going to head out--"

"That fast, huh?" He frowned slightly and Rey looked back at the wall before looking back at him. She had gotten most of it done, she was an extremely fast painter (the inhuman speed really helped). 

"...Ben," She clasped her hands together in front of her, unable to make contact with him as she knew she couldn't look him in the eyes with this particular conversation. "I shouldn't come back here...at all,"

"Why?" His response was quick, and Rey instantly looked down.

"I learned a very long time ago that becoming friends with humans...never has a happy ending," Why was she about to cry? "Because humans _die_ , Ben. Humans die, and I can't. Do--do you understand?" Don't look up at him, don't look up at him, don't look up at him, don't look up at--she looked up at him. He looked kinda...crushed, in a sense. Like she had just told him that his dog had died. She felt her eyes sting and she tensed up.

"I think so," He finally spoke, Rey fighting back a whimper that would equal one of a kicked puppy. "I think so, yeah,"

"I'm--I'm so sorry," She choked out, her hands trembling as she clasped them tighter. Why was she _this_ emotional? This wasn't right, she shouldn't be upset. This was what was going to happen inevitably, so, why did it feel so...wrong? 

"I'll finish the paint job for you, okay?" His smile was sad. She had completely obliterated his sunshine smile. _She_ did this, no one else. 

Immortality was the biggest con of vampirism. It always ended with you alone.

"Mmn--yeah--" She hurried to the door, throwing it open and running out into the night.

When she got to her room at her apartment, she collapsed on her bed, and cried.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey...peanut," Finn slowly opened Rey's door an hour before dawn, the man jumping and cursing loudly as he saw Rey glaring at him in the pitch dark with numerous blankets wrapped around her. He could basically only see her eyes reflecting back at him with that eerie green cat like sheen. "It's, uh, a little spooky in here, isn't it? Are you...playing Gregorian Chants from your laptop? That's...neat," Finn forced a smile, but Rey only continued to glare at him with red, puffy eyes. She had cried for a good three hours, and after crying she had put on church music (it soothed her, what could she say?) as she dwelled on her own pathetic sadness in the dark. 

"Get out of my room," She hissed from within the blankets, Finn frowning as he leaned in the doorway. 

"Rey, what exactly happened? Why are you crying over this guy, you literally told me that you were never seeing him again after this. What happened?" What _had_ happened? She didn't know. She didn't have a single explanation to give to her progeny. 

"...I'm an idiot," She sniffled as she pulled the blankets down so her top half was revealed. She had stupidly put Ben's shirt on an hour ago. His scent was all over it, and she felt like crying again. "That's what happened."

"Oh, Rey," Finn sighed as he walked into the room, sitting on the end of her bed before putting his hand over hers. "Did you finally let yourself be happy and then let your self destructive ways tear that happiness away from you?"

"Yes," Rey instantly choked out a sob, a few tears sliding down her cheeks. "Yes, yeah--yeah," She found herself sobbing again, Finn gently pulling her forward and hugging her. "I-I don't know why I feel like this, Finn, it _sucks_ ,"

"They call it a crush for a reason, peanut." He pulled back to smile sadly at her, Rey's heart falling into her stomach as his words made sense. She _liked_ Ben. Like, liked _liked_ Ben. Oh, my God, she wanted to _die_. It had only been a week, a singular week, and she had already grown attached to the very idea of him that fast?

"N-no--"

"No? So, you're just sitting here in the dark, listening to creepy church music, and crying your eyes out for no reason?" Goddammit, she hated how right he was. Finn was always right, and she hated it. 

"I--whatever," She buried herself under the covers, Finn gently shutting her laptop that was sitting near the end of the bed and Rey peered out to look at him.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to be transported to the Crusades right now," Finn chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but failed as she just hid back under the covers. She didn't want to smile, she didn't _deserve_ to smile. She obliterated Ben's smile, so why did she have the right to smile? It's simple, she didn't. She didn't.

\-------------------------------------------

Throughout the next week, Rey slugged around like a corpse who had lost all hope. Technically, that's what she was. She wasn't living, she had no heartbeat and she didn't need to breathe, and she _had_ lost all hope. His broken smile just replayed on repeat in her head, Rey walking around quietly wailing all week like that one annoying ghost that never shuts up. You know the type of the ghost. 

"Okay, Rey," Poe stood in her doorway around midnight that Saturday, Rey slowly looking up at him from the bed. She had barely moved from her seat all week. "You need to stop all of this. It _hurts_ to see you this sad, sweetpea. So, all three of us are going out."

"Going--oh, no, Poe, I'm not going to a _club._ " Rey whined loudly, but Poe shook his head as he stuck his hand up to quiet her.

"Yes, we are. We're going to a nightclub, I will slip blood into your shots of vodka so you can get completely hammered--"

"That's feeding into my self destructiveness, Poe--"

"And you're going to dance that adorable ass of yours off until dawn comes, do you understand? You're going to have _fun_ , I promise,"

"Eating rusty nails sounds fun too, doesn't it?" She narrowed her eyes, Poe just staring at her before flicking on the light. Rey screeched and dove under her covers, her fangs popping as she hissed loudly at the light. Another con to vampirism.

"Get up, sunshine, and get dressed. I know you have dresses dating all the back to the forties in your closet, may I suggest a tube top dress from the early 2000s?" Poe smirked and Rey poked her head out from the covers like an enraged snapping turtle. 

"You, you may _not_ make a suggestion," She hissed loudly, her fangs still out. She didn't want to go out, she didn't want to choke down copious amounts of alcohol in order to feel barely even a buzz, and she didn't want to _go clubbing_ even if it meant getting her mind off of Ben. She deserved to wallow in her depression, she did this to no one but herself and she needed to face the music. This music being a mess of a symphony where no one read the music sheets correctly. This symphony sounded like butchered _hell._

\-------------------------------------------

Both Finn and Poe had dragged her out of the apartment to the night club they constantly frequented, Rey scowling sourly as she sat at the bar alone. Finn had agreed with Poe about the skin tight tube top black dress, and she constantly found herself trying pull it down as it kept riding up her thighs (she was constantly fidgeting which was the cause of it doing so). 

Finn and Poe were off on the top floor somewhere, most likely secretly feeding away from the public eye. They had to be smart like that. 

She had had _thirty_ shots already, and the bartender kept looking over at her nervously by how sober she seemed. Thirty shots of straight _everclear_ (with blood she quickly would pour into the shot glass from a flask from her purse when no one was looking) would kill a grown human man, and yet here she sat with just her head feeling a little swimmy. Kind of like a fish. God, she needed to get a fish tank. Rey _loved_ goldfish, and she had over fifty fish funerals with Finn in the past. They were all named George.

"So, we meet again, tiger tamer." Rey looked to her side to see Hux smirking smugly at her as he leaned his back against the bar, the brunette screaming internally. Well, she did say she would make it her mission to eat him if she ever encountered him in a club. God works in mysterious ways.

"So we do," She threw back another shot as the bartender put it in front of her, knowing she'd regret not putting blood in it later, and Hux's expression turned shocked.

"Is--is that _everclear_?" 

"Of course it is," She grinned as the bartender slowly passed her another shot with a semi-horrified expression. Don't you toss that back, Rey, don't you--ah, she tossed it back. She was _not_ looking forward to puking the entire content of her stomach later. "Go big or go home, _Hugs._ "

"It's Hux--"

"Hmm?"

"My name--"

"What?"

"My name is _Hux._ " He narrowed his eyes and Rey silently cackled to herself. Yes, she was having fun now. Any time she could irritate someone was a fun time to her.

"Oh, is it? I swore I thought it was Hugs." She shrugged with an innocent smile, but on the inside she was cackling louder at his irritated expression. 

"It's okay, we barely interacted anyways," He leaned over to her, and she _hated_ his cologne. What was that, some kind of prissy, fancy rich shit? Probably costs four hundred a bottle? _Fuck_ this guy. "Can I buy you a drink that isn't...everclear?"

"Ah, no--" Wait, Rey, you have to say yes. You have to think he's gotten the golden ticket which is you in order to lure him out to the alley and drain him dry. "Actually, sure," She had to force it out with a smile, trying not to gag violently as she did so. She would shower again when she got home, she did _not_ like the idea of his hands on her. She prayed to God that she could keep the alcohol down that was sloshing around in her stomach. Keep it down, Rey. Keep it the _fuck_ down. "But if you would just give me one itty bitty moment--bartender! Ten more shots please!" She put down a one hundred dollar bill on the counter, Hux staring at her with a shocked expression yet again. How...wasn't she _dead_? 

\----------------------------------------------------

After thirty minutes of conversing with him (God, she never wanted to die so badly before, all he talked about was _himself_ ), she found herself stumbling out to the alley for fresh air. Her vision was blurred, the brunette practically tripping outside as she snorted loudly in amusement. Eating Hux could wait a moment, she needed to--

"Rey...?" Oh. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, _no._

"B-Ben?" She choked out with wide eyes as she saw him leaning against the alleyway wall, the man staring at her with equally wide eyes. Curse you, fate, you treacherous trickster, and curse that damn leather jacket he's wearing. It was a _sin_ to look that good in leather. 

"What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" She slurred as she wobbled slightly, falling against the opposite alleyway wall as she stuck herself to it for support (salamander powers, activate!). "You--you said you didn't like--oh, _God,_ \--parties! You said you didn't like parties!" She hiccuped harshly and Ben's expression softened as he put his phone in his back jeans pocket. 

"Hux dragged me here, I kinda had no choice,"

"Aw...I'm gonna eat Hux..." She frowned and Ben's face fell.

"Wha--what, no! No, Rey, you can't _eat_ Hux! Poe is already missing, the whole entire police force of New York is going to think there's a serial killer out there who targets cops!"

"But Poe is here," She jabbed a finger out towards the door as she hiccuped again. "Poe is here, he isn't dead, he's--yes he is." She frowned. "He's dead, I'm dead, Finn is dead--"

"Poe is _here_?" His voice dropped an octave and Rey pressed her thighs together tightly. The sound of his voice was like porn. Voice porn? Was that a thing? ASMR? Yeah, ASMR counted as voice porn, right? Ben should do ASMR. 

"Mmn--mmn, yeah, Poe is here...upstairs...with Finn...they're probably...vibing," She swallowed, the back of her throat starting to feel scratchy. She needed to _eat._

"What if someone sees him, Rey? He's got missing posters--"

"No, no, no, we can blend in. It's, uh--chameleon," She blurted out, a distant part of her mind screaming. "We are karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleons...we come and go...we--we come and go--"

"Did--did you just describe one of your vampire powers using lyrics from 'Karma Chameleon' by Culture Club?" Oh. Oh, he was _smiling._ Ben was _smiling_ at _her._

"I like you," She blurted out yet again, tears pricking her eyes as she did so. Rey got _sad_ when she was drunk, and that's the main reason why she hated drinking so much. She turned into a completely emotionally unstable person who won't stop crying about their past, and Rey had a _lot_ of past to cover. "I-I like you, I like you so much, and I still want to paint your walls, a-and I can't--I--"

"Rey," His voice was soft as he walked over to her, Rey staring up at him with teary eyes. "Can I take you back to your place? You're beyond intoxicated and I want you to be at home safe, not...standing here crying in an alleyway," He smiled softly and Rey let out a silent whine as she pressed her back tightly up against the dingy brick wall. 

"Rey, let me drive you--" She cut him off by reaching up and touching his cheek, a couple tears sliding down her cheeks as she did so. He was so kind. He was so kind, and warm, and--and _human._ He was human, and she wasn't, and that's all there was to it. She would never age, and he would. He'd find a wife, start a family, and die happily at old age. She would never experience that. 

"You're so warm," She choked out with a smile and Ben's expression turned empathetic, his warm brown eyes staring into hers. "Did you know that, Ben?"

"I would certainly hope I'm warm, since I am living," He took her hand off his cheek and placed it in his, their vast hand size differences startling her for a moment. "Is it comforting? The warmth, I mean?"

"Yeah, it's like a heatlamp to a lizard..." She breathed out as she stared up at him, that weird fluttering sensation erupting in her chest. Why was he different? Why was he different from any other human she's encountered in all of her eight centuries of living? What made Ben Solo so special?

"You're so strange, you know that?" He chuckled as he gently squeezed her hand in his, Rey letting out a quiet whine in response. _Hold me,_ a voice deep within her whispered. _Please, Ben, hold me._

"Please," She whispered as more tears began to form. "Take me home, Ben. Please." He nodded as he began to lead her out of the alley, Rey having to force herself to not trip in these blasted strappy heels. Damn Poe and his good fashion senses, these shoes looked _great_ with this dress, but she felt like she was going to eat concrete at any moment from how buzzed (she was not buzzed, she'd like to think she was buzzed, but she was truly intoxicated) she was. 

"How did you even get drinks, Rey?"

"I started making my own fake IDs _years_ ago. I'm actually kinda good at it,"

"Oh, yeah?" He smiled as they approached his car on the street, Rey skidding to a halt at the sight of it. Oh, my _God._ This man had a _vintage cherry red t bird._ She felt like she was going to faint at the mere sight of it. Rey had always loved cars, the faster the better, and she could remember a time where she used to do street racing with a t bird. It was the fifties, it was incredibly common back then. Plus, it was never truly dangerous for her. She could heal in the blink of an eye. 

"She's yours?" Rey looked at Ben with wide eyes, Ben scoffing with a smile as he looked down before looking back up and nodding.

"Yeah, she's mine. She was my dad's back when he was my age, he swiped it from a junkyard and fixed her up, and he passed it onto me when I turned sixteen. Her name is Falcon." Ben took his keys out as they got closer to it, Rey gawking at the car with teary eyes. She was too emotional at this point, anything could make her cry in this moment, and she needed to get home _now._

The moment she got in the car and shut the door, she instantly regretted it. His scent was _everywhere._ It was like someone had sprayed Ben Solo perfume in her face. Why--why did he smell like home...?

"You want to put your address into the GPS maps?" He got in the driver's seat, shutting the door and handing her his phone. She blinked as she took it, her vision not as blurred as it was earlier. Just inhaling his scent in every single direction made her sober up. She pressed the button on the side of his phone, the screen lighting up, and she swiped it open. No password, huh? She had thought passwords were annoying when she had a phone, too. 

"So, um," She opened the maps app. "I mean this in the least creepiest way possible," She started typing in her address. "But you smell good enough to eat. Literally. It's a really big compliment, don't worry." She smiled as she handed him back his phone after she pressed 'start navigation', Ben staring at her silently. Why--why was he doing not responding? Oh, God, she made him uncomfortable--

" _Head north._ " Rey jumped at Siri's voice, Ben biting back a grin before turning back and putting the keys in the ignition. 

She was silent for ten minutes as he drove, Ben glancing over at her every so often to see if she was okay. She was playing with a strand of her hair as she stared out the window. 

"Why did you go buy ice when you have an ice maker built in your fridge?" She broke the silence, Ben barking out a laugh in response.

"I like the ice they sell in the store. They come as, like, their own unique shape _and_ they taste different from any other kind of ice."

"Lies," She snorted as she faced towards the front of the car, the brunette looking at the radio. "Ice is just frozen water, water doesn't taste like anything."

"I disagree," He shrugged his shoulders and Rey turned on the radio. Classical? Was this Debussy? Yes, this was Debussy.

"I love Clair de Lune," She whispered as she stared at the radio with awe in her eyes, Ben slowly pulling up on her street. "It makes me think of the sea."

"The sea?" This was her apartment building coming up. 

"Mhm," She sighed as she suddenly turned it off, a certain sadness having entered her eyes. "This is me right here."

"Yeah," He parked the car in front of her building, Rey slowly opening the car door. She didn't want to leave his car, she didn't want to leave _him._

"I meant it," She looked over her shoulder at him, Ben's expression turning to one of confusion. "When I said I wanted to keep painting your walls. I meant it." She would not acknowledge that she also told him she liked him. 

"...Rey," Ben sighed loudly as he relaxed against the leather seat, Rey tensing up in preparation for the worst. _"It's too late,"_ he'd probably say. _"You're really tiring, I can't deal with you anymore."_

"I haven't even started painting because I was hoping you would come back and do it for me." He laughed, and Rey suddenly felt like she was floating. This airy, bubbling feeling inside her chest began to blossom into sheer warmth. 

But it all came crashing down as she remembered, only having forgotten for a brief moment, that he was a human. She couldn't do this. She _couldn't_ do this. 

"Rey," He reached his hand out towards her before pulling it back, but Rey grabbed his wrist and instantly put his hand on her cheek. She let out a dry sob with a smile as she leaned into his warmth, closing her eyes as she desperately tried not to cry. This was warmth. This was happiness. She needed this memory to remember him by. 

"You're so warm," She choked out, her voice giving away that she was trying not to cry. "You're so, so warm and I'm so, so cold, and--"

"That's what heaters are meant for." She opened her eyes to see him smiling, and she had to stop herself from sobbing. Sunshine smile. That's all she could describe it as. His sunshine smile. His warm, blindingly bright sunshine smile. 

"I--Ben, I--" She struggled to get her words out, his hand on her cheek short circuiting her brain. How could she possibly focus when the warmth of the sun was on her face? She hadn't felt the sun in so, so long...she missed running through the fields of her farm in the sunlight, laughing and playing with a stray dog she affectionately named "BeeBee"...

"Do you ever look to the universe and think 'Do I dare?'" She bit her lower lip and he blinked before glancing off in deep thought.

"Do I dare to what, though?" He looked back at her, her eyes big and doe like. He could've had a heart attack from the way she was looking at him, and his hand was _still_ on her chilled cheek. He didn't know how he wasn't vibrating right now. 

"To do anything," She spoke softly, her eyes glancing down. Her dark lashes kissed her cheeks, her petal like lips parted. She looked like a painting. "To do anything you're highly advised not to do. Do you dare?"

"It depends," His eyes darted down to her lips and then back up to her eyes to see she was staring at him, his cheeks quickly heating up. "How highly advised are you not to do it?"

"Extremely," She breathed out as they started inching closer to each other. "It's extremely unadvised." Her hand was on his cheek now, the vampire having moved so close to him that their faces were mere inches apart. 

"Then...maybe...just once..." He muttered as he leaned forward, only for Rey to yank backwards. Shit, what had he done?

"I'm sorry," She quickly got out of the car, Ben slumping back against his seat while sucking in his breath. So close. This was the girl he couldn't stop thinking about since the moment he met her, and he had been _so close._ "I'm sorry, Ben--I can't--"

"I get it," He smiled at her from inside the car. "It's understandable, Rey."

"I-I'll pop by your house tomorrow," She whirled around and ran into her building, quickly running up the stairs to her apartment after yanking off her high heels and carrying them in her hands. She unlocked her door, bursting inside after throwing her shoes on the ground, and slamming it behind her. Her chest was heaving, her eyes wide and downcast as her hands stayed on the door. 

She had almost kissed him. She had almost _kissed_ him. Him. Ben Solo. The man who was the sun. 

If she had almost kissed him then, how would she be able to hold herself back from him when she would be painting his walls for hours tomorrow?

What had she _done_?


	7. Chapter 7

"Finn," Rey gently knocked on Finn's door, the brunette having bolted up and scurried to his room the moment the sun had set. "Fiiinnnnnnnnn," She tapped her nails on the door like one would do to call a cat as she chirped in a singsong tone.

"Rey, _noooooo,_ " Poe responded from inside the room with the same singsong tone with a hint of annoyance in it, Rey pouting as she put her hands on her hips. "We just woke up, give us a--"

"Finn, how did you not--how did you not, um...eat Poe? You know, before you...did?" The door swung open at this question, Finn standing there in just his pajama bottoms. They purposely had Elmo's face on them, he had purposely bought them in 2010 just to antagonize her. She glared down at them.

"What do you _mean_ how did I not eat Poe? I love Poe, I would've never--"

"You were with Poe for a year! For a year you let him be human, and you didn't even attempt to eat him until--"

"I wasn't _eating_ him, Rey, I was trying to turn him--"

"Oh, _shit_ , sweetpea, are you asking because you want tips on how to not eat Ben?" Damn you, Poe Dameron. Damn you and your sharp wit. 

"...No--"

"Bullshit," Both Poe and Finn said in unison, Rey flinching as she looked down and started playing with her hair frantically. She hated being called out like this, but she had brought it upon herself by asking the question in the first place. She _had_ to ask it. Any time she ever got sexually involved with a victim...it always ended like a praying mantis nature show (their head would be gone). Not that she saw Ben as a victim, of course, but she _had_ almost kissed him...and she didn't want him to become one. 

"Peanut...are you sure this is a good idea? I'm not so sure about this anymore if you think you're going to eat him..."

"Wait, why are you asking her that? You had a relationship with me when I was human, we did perfectly fine--"

"I'm not Rey." Finn turned to look at Poe, Rey biting her lower lip and looking away at his words. It hurt, but he was right. She was _extremely_ self destructive, and the moment she was given any amount of happiness, she would tear it to ribbons until nothing recognizable was left. She _obliterated_ her chances at happiness each and every time, the only bit of happiness she had never obliterated was Finn (even if there were a few first calls in the beginning of their relationship). 

"I just...don't want to hurt him. Ever. The man bakes and has a vintage record player, he's also so incredibly kind...but his _scent_ \--" 

"That would suck if you ate Ben," Poe sighed and Rey suddenly looked as if someone had just punched her, Finn turning to glare at Poe. Poe dove under the covers and completely hid himself. Ah, the avoiding turtle move. Rey did it frequently. 

"Peanut," Finn turned back to her, Rey staring at him with sad eyes. "Just stay six feet apart from him, maybe? Just finish his walls, and then you can--"

"Never see him again...right..." She felt like crying again. There was already mascara mixed with dried blood (a hell of a combination to have) stained on her cheeks from the night before, having just crawled into bed and sobbed herself to sleep (she had fallen asleep before the sun even went up, and that honestly said a lot). She was _terrified_ of the entire situation, and while she should never see him again after painting his walls, she never wanted to _not_ see him again. A memory of a sunshine smile is not the same as seeing it with your own eyes rather than just your mind. 

"Well, I'm going over to his house--"

"Looking like that?" Poe looked _horrified_ and Rey pressed her lips together tightly with a displeased expression.

" _No_ , Poe, I'm not going to his house looking like I just crawled out of a horror movie about a prom night from hell." 

"Thank God," Poe sighed in relief and she wanted to smack him in the face with a pillow. "The Carrie aesthetic doesn't suit you." 

"The Carrie aesthetic looks great on me, what the hell? We're _vampires_ , Poe, the Carrie aesthetic is kind of our thing." Rey snorted loudly as she felt a wave of relief wash over her. Poe had a funny habit of making a room's tension so much lighter, it was just part of his astounding charisma. 

"Not on me," Poe muttered and Rey couldn't help but giggle as Finn put his head in his hands. "I thought I looked like something out of a nightmare when I first fed. Even Finn agreed with me--"

"No, no, _no_ , I said you looked like a _beautiful_ nightmare!" Finn shot out and Rey burst into laughter. 

\------------------------------------

Ben was nervous. He had spent all day fidgeting at his house, stress cleaning and baking like an absolute mad man. He had made over fifty cookies that day, and he was now glaring down at all of them on the kitchen island in his kitchen at nine at night. He didn't even know what to do with them. He supposed he could stash them away in a jar away somewhere or give some to his mother and his other coworkers that weren't complete dicks to him. Hux would _not_ be given a cookie. 

"That's a lot of biscuits," Rey spoke up from beside him and Ben _screamed_ as he instantly jumped, Rey blinking with wide eyes before smiling apologetically. She was _extremely_ thankful that he was wearing jeans and shirt rather than just those sweatpants. "Sorry--"

"How did you get in?! _Where_ did you get in?! How did I not notice--"

"I got in through the back door, you left it unlocked, and did you forget that my kind can blend in? You wouldn't have noticed me whatsoever if I hadn't of spoken up." She took a cookie off the plate, inspecting it curiously as Ben just stared at her with wide eyes still. His heart was still racing from her seemingly just _manifesting_ next to him. "Snickerdoodles?" She smiled at him and he slowly nodded. "I didn't take you for a cinnamon type of guy,"

"I'm...not...you can--you can barely taste the cinnamon," He cleared his throat as he straightened his posture, Rey silently smirking to herself. She hadn't meant to scare him, but she still got a hell of a kick out of it. "It's my mother's recipe."

"Your mum's, huh...?" She looked down at the cookie again before putting it back on the plate, a small frown forming on her lips. She wished she could try one, she really, really did. 

"What else did you do today? Besides making an obscene amount of biscuits," She smirked at him, Ben rolling his eyes playfully as he took the plate and put it on the kitchen counter. He loved that she had called the cookies 'biscuits', he found it incredibly adorable.

He wanted to say "Just waited for you" but instead, because that would sound a tad creepy if he had said the thing he wanted to say, he said: "Nothing, really." 

"I can practically use this kitchen island as a mirror," She stared down at the marble with wide eyes. "Did--did you _wax_ this?" 

"No--"

"Your kitchen tiles are also reflective as all hell, did you--you stressed cleaned?" She gasped loudly, surprised that she had guessed he was a stress cleaner from the very beginning (there was no way this man could be a serial killer). 

"No, hang on, _no_ , I did not--"

"I stress you out?" She frowned and he wanted to scream. No, she didn't stress him out, if anything he was more stressed out about himself. He was also incredibly stressed because the department had become slightly more panicked about Poe. 

"N-no, Rey, you don't stress me out! It was just time to--to clean the floors--"

"And scrub them like little orphan Annie? Will Miss Hannigan yell at you if you don't make them shine like the top of the Chrysler Building?" She raised a brow and Ben could practically _see_ his cheeks turning dark red. She really just used the musical Annie against his tendency to stress clean. She really did that. 

"You came to paint, not criticize my clean floors--"

"Are you sure I should be standing on your pristine tiles? Should I just sit on the ceiling instead?" She leered at him, Ben huffing before pausing. She could sit on the ceiling?

"You can sit on the ceiling?" 

"Did I not tell you about my salamander powers? Must've completely slipped my mind," She shrugged with a smile before _winking_ at him, and Ben felt like he was just hit by a freight train. "I guess that is my _one_ superhero kind of power. Call me Spider-Woman." She imitated the hand gesture Spiderman does to activate his web shooters, and Ben plunged even harder for her. 

"So, you can crawl on walls and stuff? What else can you do?" He asked as he followed her into the living room, Rey making a noise of appreciation as she saw that the paint and ladder were still there. He hadn't moved them.

"Why are you so curious?" 

"Because it's really _fucking_ cool, Rey!" Ben blurted out and she paused midstep on the ladder. He had washed her brush and put it right back where she had it, and he had even put the lid back on the paint bucket. She didn't deserve this man's kindness. 

"No, not really," She sighed as she opened the paint bucket that was still on the top ladder step. "You have to remember that I only have these 'gifts' because I'm a hidden serial killer in disguise." She looked down at him with a smile to see that he was frowning. Why was he upset she referred to herself that way? She technically _is_ a serial killer, she'd always referred to herself that way (mainly jokingly around Finn, but he completely understood this humor, and Ben clearly did not). "...What?"

"You always describe yourself as this horrible, cruel thing, when that's the farthest thing away from what you are." Oh. Oh, he--he complimented her. Did he just tell her that she was _nice_? Is that what he was inferring? 

"...Thank you," She found herself saying without looking away from his gaze. God, had there ever been brown eyes so _soft_? "Ben." 

He felt a shiver run down his spine as she spoke his name in that incredibly soft tone, that tone that compared to the softness of a rose petal. Although, if she were a flower, she'd be a sunflower. In his eyes, she _glowed_. 

"I can move super fast, you already know that," She smiled as she looked back towards the wall, picking her paintbrush up as she did so. "I've got salamander powers, too, but I just told you that, so,"

"Can you turn into a bat?"

"Can I--can I turn into a _bat_? Next you're going to ask if I can transform myself into mist!" She huffed angrily as she dipped her paintbrush in the bucket. "I really, _really_ hate how they make vampires in media these super suave, sexy creatures that are constantly falling in love and attempting to look mysterious twenty-four seven! I do _not_ look mysterious constantly, nor sexy for that matter, because most of the time I'm just relaxing in my apartment in my pajamas binging Netflix while drinking blood out of a glass with a curly straw!" Her words came out incredibly fast and Ben blinked a few times as he tried to process the racecar of a paragraph that just came zooming out of her mouth. 

"And, no, I can't fly either--"

"What about the, uh, trance stuff?"

"...You mean the allure?" She suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable and Ben regretted asking. "Um," She slowly put the paintbrush down, her hand trembling slightly. "I don't--I don't use it, it's highly dangerous,"

"Have you ever used it?"

"No," The response was fast, lightning fast, and the brunette slowly hugged herself as a far off, frightened look entered her eyes. "No, I've never used it." Her voice was barely a whisper, and he could hear the fear in her voice. Why did she look traumatized? 

"Rey, are you--"

"It has very bad side effects, it's not like the movies, Ben. It's not like the movies." She was looking down, her hands still now but that far off look was still in her vivid hazel eyes. 

"I'm sorry," He instantly shot out with an apologetic tone, his hand itching to reach out and touch hers. "I'm sorry, Rey, I didn't know that would upset you--"

"It's not your fault," She glanced over at him, and all he could see was her. "I just had a very cruel creator, that's all. I barely even remember his name, I know it started with an 'S' or something," This was a lie. This was the _biggest_ lie because she remembered _everything_. She had killed him one night, finally, and then she ran off. His name was Snoke, and he had robbed her of everything. He had turned her into a shadow.

"He's dead?" 

"...Yeah, Ben, he's dead," _I killed him. I tore his body in two._ "I don't know how he died, I just felt him die when he did. That's all." She shrugged nonchalantly, but he could tell there was something deeper to all of it. 

"Rey, I'm--"

"Can you put on music? Maybe the telly?" She breathed shakily and Ben quickly nodded as he ran off to to turn the radio in the kitchen.

Rey didn't need to breathe, but she wanted to hyperventilate. She wanted to run, to be by herself, but for some odd reason, she stayed right where she was. She was pushing down her need to run because she didn't want to leave _him_. 

The sound of 'Take My Breath Away' by Berlin started coming from the kitchen and she heard Ben curse lowly under his breath at the song. Rey giggled quietly, swaying her hips back and forth slowly absentmindedly as she began to paint. She remembered when Top Gun had come out, she had seen it with Finn at a movie theater in Times Square. She had _loved_ it, and after that movie she got into planes just as much as she was into cars. 

In the kitchen, Ben was glaring down at the radio. _I hate you_ , he whispered to the radio mentally. _I hate you for playing one of the biggest love songs of the eighties in this moment, in this situation._

"Turn it up!" Rey called out and Ben snapped out of his thoughts, his hand slowly turning the knob on the miniature radio begrudgingly. Why couldn't the radio station put on INXS or Def Leppard? Why did it _have_ to be this particular song from the love scene from Top Gun? And to make matters worse, he had turned it on when the song _just_ started. 

Then he heard her singing quietly along to it, and he couldn't stop himself as he walked into the living room to see her swaying to the music. Did sounding like a goddamn angel come with being a vampire?

"I remember when this came out in eighty-six," She smiled as she finished the last stroke on the wall, stepping down from the ladder and turning to look at him. "It was all over the radio. I'm pretty sure I could sing the whole thing just at the top of my head."

" _I'm not stopping you_ ," He desperately wanted to say. But he didn't. He couldn't. 

"I think I can move onto your bedroom now," She sucked in her breath as she put her hands on her hips, the only sound in the room for a moment being the radio. 

"Yeah, yeah, sure," He cleared his throat as he shoved his hands in his pockets as he tried to play it cool. "Whatever room, uh, you think you should paint next should be that room." This was the hundredth time he felt like he was going to faint because of her.

"...The bedroom,"

"Yes, yes, the bedroom," His palms felt sweaty, and he was terrified that his cheeks were bright red. "The bedroom."

"Right," She quickly grabbed the paint bucket and brush, hugging the paint bucket tightly to her chest. There was that fluttering sensation in her chest again, and the song was _not_ helping. "I'm going to...paint your bedroom now,"

"Go for it," He looked down the hall at the stairs, Rey slowly nodding but not moving. She didn't want to go to his room, she didn't want to be in the room that smelled purely like him. _Six feet, Rey,_ she reminded herself. _Stay six feet back if you feel like you're going to attack._

"Bedroom..." She muttered quietly as she looked down the hallway as well with a small frown on her lips. "Are you coming with me?" She didn't mean to ask that out loud.

"Ah, no, I was gonna stay down here, and--do you want me to come up with you?"

"...Maybe," She shifted from one foot to the other as she bit her lower lip, her gaze still fixated on the stairs. 

It was in that moment the song ended, and a very loud commercial both made them jump.

Which caused Rey to spill paint all over herself.

"Fuck!" She gasped loudly as the paint splattered all over her, her hands still gripping the paint bucket tightly. She was _not_ about to drop the paint on his--she should drop the paint on his shag carpet, but this was not the time to do that. "Fuck, I'm sorry--"

"No, no, I love it. It's like modern art," Ben couldn't help but smile and Rey looked up at him with wide eyes. "You look like a real young artist trying to make a statement. When is your upcoming art show, Rey? I'd love to attend if this is just a small preview. This is better than the banana duct taped to a wall."

"...I'm using your shower, if you don't mind? And, just for that comment, I will be stealing another one of your shirts and never returning it to you."

"You mean like my Ozzy shirt?"

"Yes, like your--fuck off," She shoved the paint bucket at him, Ben taking it with a smile before she took off down the hall and up the stairs. Of course she had done some stupid like that, of course she had spilled paint all over herself from jumping because of a loud commercial. 

\------------------------------------

"Thanks for letting me use your shower...again," She stood outside his front door at two in the morning, having completely finished his bedroom and kitchen walls. She really loved how his all black furniture complimented the green, and she was glad she had gone with forest green rather than moss green. The moss green would've been too bright. "I guess I'll do your dining room next, huh?"

"Yeah, sure, then after that you can tear out the carpet," He was leaning in the doorway, their eyes never leaving each other's as they spoke. "You could even rebuild my kitchen." _Whatever makes you stay_ , he whispered in the back of his mind. 

"Aw," She scoffed with a smile as she looked down, her pants having survived the paint but she was wearing one of his shirts. He loved how she had instantly grabbed his Metallica shirt, having remembered it when she was in his closet last time. "You really trust me enough to remodel your kitchen?"

 _Yes._ "Well, you're just so good at colors," _Yes, I trust you._

"I'll think about it." She bit her lower lip with a smile as she looked back up at him, and he swallowed before smiling back. "See you later, gator." She winked before turning around and running off, Ben sighing softly as he watched her go. 

"After a while, crocodile."

\-------------------------------------

Rey was walking down the street to her apartment, looking down into her purse as she reached into it to grab the keys. "Tiger tamer, is that you?"

Oh, _no_. 

"Officer Hux..." She looked up to see him leaning against what she assumed to be his car, the redhead grinning at her with a predatory look in his eyes. "It's a little bit late to be out on a school night, isn't it?"

"Good thing I'm not in school then," He chuckled and Rey forced a smile. Why was he so close to her apartment building, why was he here? "I have work off tomorrow, I just thought I'd drive around for a while. I stopped here to just get out and get some fresh air." She didn't like this, she had a really bad feeling about this. "What are you doing out this late, tiger tamer," His eyes went to her shirt, and she bit her tongue to keep herself from verbally lashing out at him. "...with Ben's shirt on?" _Shit_. 

"That's really none of your business, is it?" She snapped as she grabbed her keys out of her purse and started walking again, but when she got to him his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"I thought we hit it off at the club pretty well, was I mistaken?"

"I left you there, didn't I?!" She yanked her wrist back, the vampire desperately trying to keep her fangs from popping and her pupils turning to slits. She had to remember what Ben said about not killing Hux. They would think there was a serial killer out there targeting cops, and she did _not_ need to be hunted down by the police. 

"Ah, so you were just toying with me?"

"Why are you here?!" She snarled and Hux narrowed his eyes. "Is it really a coincidence you're outside my apartment building?! My address isn't even in the database--"

"Nothing about you is in the database, Rey," He was too close to her. "I looked up 'Rey Phillips' and got no hits whatsoever."

"You looked me up?! What the--"

"And I went over to Ben's this morning to grab my jacket that I had left in his car, and he had stupidly left his phone on the diner table. The maps app was still up, and he had even saved it." He--he had _saved_ her address? Ben had saved her address? 

"You need to fucking go--"

"I don't think I'm going anywhere, Rey," He grabbed her wrist again.

And she _snapped_.

Five minutes later and she was hauling ass down the street with Hux's body shoved in his own trunk, Rey freaking the fuck out as she drove. "FUCK! FUCK, FUCK, _FUCK_! FUCK ME!" She screamed as she drove faster, her destination an old abandoned hotel that was only a few blocks away from her. Why had she done this?! Why did she have to tear his throat out?! Her face was splattered with his blood, his blood heavily staining Ben's shirt. She had ruined Ben's shirt and she had done exactly what he had told her _not_ to do. "Fucking fuck, oh, my God, oh, my God! Oh, my God!" She skidded the car to a halt once inside the parking garage under the abandoned hotel, frantically undoing her seatbelt and getting out of the car. She dug around in her purse, finding the can of lighter fluid and box of matches (which she carried around for this very exact reason).

She was going to burn the car. She _had_ to burn the car. 

She sprayed the lighter fluid all over the car seats and the car itself, putting the can back in her purse before taking several steps back and lighting the match. 

The moment she threw the match at the car, she turned and ran. She didn't hear the car explode until she was five blocks away while running down the back streets to her apartment.

\------------------------------------

Ben woke up to the sound of his phone going off at four in the morning. He sluggishly grabbed his phone off the bedside table, sleep still clinging tightly to him. "Hello...?"

_"Ben, this is Kaydel. Hux's car was just found burning in an abandoned hotel parking lot,"_

" _What_?" Sleep no longer clung to him.

 _"And his body was found in the trunk, Ben. Hux is dead. Even though he's badly burnt, it looks like some kind of animal tore out his--"_ Ben quickly hung up as he bolted up in bed, his expression one of pure horror.

_Rey._


	8. Chapter 8

"Rey, Rey, Rey, you're okay! You're okay, you burned the evidence, it's--"

"I FUCKING DID A BAD THING, FINN!" Rey screamed at the top of her lungs as tears poured down her cheeks, her fangs out and her pupils barely existing. It was five in the morning now, and Finn and Poe had come back from hunting to hear her sobbing violently in her room. She had proceeded to tell them everything, and Poe had ran off to see if there was anything on the news or the internet about it yet. "I-I DID A HORRIBLE THING--"

"But you burned the car! And you said it exploded, right? You said it exploded?" Finn gently cradled her face in his hands as he looked down at her while speaking to her in a soothing tone, Rey sobbing uncontrollably and shaking violently before him. "Rey? Rey, it exploded?"

"Y-yes!" She choked out just as Poe ran into the room. 

"It's on the news--"

"It's on the _what_?!" Finn barked as he whirled around to face Poe, Rey falling to her knees and wailing loudly. She had ruined everything, they had to run now. Who knows if the car had fully exploded? It couldn't have, not if it was on the news. Only the front of the car must've exploded, they must've found his body. All three of them would need to run now, and it was all her fault. 

In that moment, she wished she had gave herself to the sun. 

"F-fingerprints burn off, don't they? They're not going to find anything?!" Finn sounded beyond terrified, Poe looking equally as terrified, and Rey just sat there wailing and sobbing uncontrollably. 

"Y-yeah--yeah, yeah, they should--"

"Then we're fine! We're fine! Do you hear that, peanut? We're okay! We're--" Finn was cut off by loud banging on their apartment door, Rey letting out a scream as she frantically crawled under her bed. The police, it had to be the police. How they had found her so fast, she had no idea, but they had. 

"Who the _fuck_ is that?!" Finn almost practically shouted and Poe ran out of Rey's bedroom to the door, throwing it open to reveal: "...Ben?"

"Is she okay?! Where is she?!" Ben was gripping the doorway, a look of sheer terror on his face. He was completely out of breath, his hair a mess and a wild look in his eyes. Poe had never ever seen Ben look like this, and they had been friends for more than ten years. 

"...Ben?" Rey whispered before darting out from under her bed, seemingly appearing by the doorway and pushing Poe out of the way (she would apologize later). " _Ben_!" She threw her arms around him, clinging to him tightly before sobbing into his chest. 

"Fucking _fuck_ , Rey," Ben breathed out before wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly against him. He didn't care that she was getting his white shirt stained with blood from her tears, all he cared about was that she was okay. She was clutching his shirt in her hands now, sobbing even harder as barely coherent "I'm sorry"'s came out of her mouth. 

"...You _do_ smell good," Poe breathed out as his fangs instinctually popped out, Ben jumping as Rey snapped her head at Poe. 

" _Mine_." She hissed loudly with her fangs out, and Ben nearly choked on his own spit. I'm sorry, did she just call him _hers_? Poe tensed up before hurriedly walking back down the hall to Rey's room, Finn glaring angrily at Ben from where he was in Rey's bedroom doorway. 

"U-uh, Rey, should I be here right--"

"You came to check on me," She cooed while sniffling as she affectionately nuzzled his chest, to which Ben blushed dark red. "You _care_ about me," Her instincts had fully taken over, and she would need to come to terms with what that meant later. " _Ben_." 

"Tell me that the police won't find out anything about her right now, Ben," Finn growled lowly and Ben looked up at him. "Tell me that nothing will come of this _right now_."

"It's the second cop death in a span of a few weeks, they're highly suspicious--"

"TELL ME THEY WON'T FIND OUT ABOUT HER!" Finn screamed and Rey whimpered loudly into Ben's chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his torso. 

"Please, Ben," she whispered. "Please tell us they won't know it was me, please tell us the fingerprints were burned off and that all other evidence pointing to me was burned...please, Ben, _please_." She was truly pleading, a frightened desperation in her tone. 

"There's nothing on you, Rey, I promise. You torched the living daylights out of that man's car." Ben gently pushed her hair back as she looked up at him, and she _smiled_. 

"I still think we should leave," Finn interrupted the moment and Rey's face fell as she pulled away from Ben, whirling around to look at Finn. "Just for a few years, Rey, we can--"

"I-I'm not leaving him!" Rey snapped in a hoarse tone. She needed to eat, she had cried out almost all the blood in her body. 

"Sweetpea, he's right, it's a good idea--"

"N-NO!" She screamed as more tears began to pour from her eyes as Ben stood there not knowing what to do. What _could_ he do? Nothing, that was all there was to it. He could do absolutely nothing. 

No. No, he _could_ do something.

"I can keep all of you updated about the case," He spoke quickly, his heart racing a million miles a minute. _Don't lose her. Don't lose her, don't lose her, don't lose her._ "I can do anything you need me to do. I'll even--shit, _fuck_ , I'll even tamper evidence for you if anything is found. I'll do anything." Ben breathed out shakily and Rey turned towards him with wide eyes, Poe and Finn looking at him with wide eyes as well. 

"You--you'll tamper with evidence...for _me_?" Her eyes were practically shining as she stared up at him, her expression one of pure wonder and awe. He wanted to take a picture of her in that exact moment, just so he could have it forever. She was looking at him as if he was knight in shining armor. 

"Yes," _Don't ever stop looking at me like that._ "Of course I will," _I've never felt this way about anyone but you._ "Why wouldn't I?" _I fell for you the very moment I first saw you._

"Oh...oh, Ben..." She covered her mouth with her hands, fresh red tears welling in her eyes. " _Ben_..." 

He almost leaned down to kiss her, but then he remembered that Poe and Finn were still standing at the end of the hall near Rey's doorway. "...It's not a problem," He straightened up, clearing his throat, and Rey frowned before understanding. 

"Hey, guys," She turned around towards Finn and Poe, both of them looking at her with suspicious expressions. They knew what she was about to ask, and they _both_ thought it was a terrible idea. When Rey had said he smelled good, they didn't know that he smelled _that_ good, and they were worried (terrified) that Rey might lose control if she were to initiate anything. "Could I talk to Ben alone, please?"

"In the kitchen, yes," Finn crossed his arms with a stern expression and Rey glared angrily at him. "Or the living room, take your pick. I'd choose the living room."

"Ooh, yeah, I'd choose the living room too. You love that couch, Rey! You picked it out." Poe grinned and Rey could feel her eye twitching. 

"I will choose _the living room_." She grit out the words behind clenched teeth, Finn nodding and Poe shooting her a couple of finger guns. They both took off to their room, which was at the front of the hall, and Rey waited before their door was shut to turn back towards Ben. "So, um...that's the couch," She pointed at the french vanilla white couch with dark green cushions, and he instantly smiled. Of course she had picked that out, it was entirely her. After her, he'd never be able to look at green the same. She _was_ the color green in his mind. 

"You really are a good interior decorator, you know that? All your furniture is beautiful, and so is everything else." He walked over to the couch, sitting down on it and relaxing back against it. "And I love that your wall color is french vanilla with ivy green accents. This entire apartment screams you." Ben grinned as she slowly walked over, Rey stopping a few feet away from him as she looked away while playing with her hair (which was coated in dry blood at this point, and all she wanted to do was shower).

"Ben...I--if you tamper with evidence, you could--Ben, you--" Rey wanted to scream, she had no idea what to say. Here she was, practically coated head to toe in both dry and fresh blood, and here he was _smiling_ up at her as if she was the the goddamn sun. She looked like she had just walked out of a splatter film, and he didn't look horrified at all. As a matter of fact, she had never seen him happier. "Ben--"

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, I had to go down to the station to see what was currently going on,"

"God, Ben, why are you being so kind to me?!" Don't do it, Rey. Don't be self destructive. "I don't fucking deserve your kindness, I never deserved any of it from the start! You barely know me, and yet here you are saying that you'll _tamper with evidence for me_?! God, Ben, could you really be that--" She was cut off by him standing up and walking over to her, Ben gently cradling her face in his hands as he leaned down and softly pressed his lips against hers. It was so... _gentle_. It was full of care and softness, full of adoration and--and _love_. 

"Stupid?" He breathed against her lips and Rey felt a shiver go down her spine. 

"M-mmn--mmn, yeah," She couldn't muster out anything but those two noises and that single word. She felt like she was floating.

"Yes, I suppose I am," He gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear (he ignored that it was sticky with old blood) while smiling at her, Rey just staring up at him with awe in her eyes once more. 

"...I would very much like you to do that again, but I need a shower," Rey whispered and Ben chuckled softly as he pressed their foreheads together. He had wanted this moment to happen for what felt like years, and now that it had he felt as if he was whole. Nothing felt like it was missing anymore. Little did he know that she was feeling the exact same thing, and that meant something that she only knew...but she wouldn't acknowledge it in this moment. She couldn't, she didn't want to think about it when she was this happy because she knew it would only tear her to shreds. 

"I agree, you really have a whole Carrie vibe to you right now and it is _extremely_ unsettling," He smiled his famous sunshine smile and Rey wanted to cry again. "No offense."

"N-none taken," Rey laughed as she sniffled and wiped her eyes, absolutely mortified with she saw her hands come back _soaked_ in fresh blood. Christ, she must've looked like someone out of the Evil Dead 2013 remake. She looked back at him to see that she had gotten his white shirt filthy with blood, and she couldn't help but frown. She didn't like blood on him, it didn't fit him whatsoever. It was even on his hands and she nearly fell backwards. "Y-you need a clean shirt..." 

"Oh, yeah?" He looked down at his shirt, wincing slightly at the sight. "It's, uh...kind of like art, yeah? Artistic interpretation?"

"For serial killers, sure," She found herself smiling again as soon as he smiled at her, and she once again felt like she was floating. "You can ask Finn or Poe for a--"

"You think I should stay...?" He suddenly looked uncomfortable, an uneasiness instantly surrounding him, and that floaty feeling shattered into a million pieces. "I just--I needed to check on you, Rey. I don't want to intrude in you guys'...den." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and Rey's lower lip began to tremble. "Rey...? Rey, are you--"

"Y-you're just going to leave?" She was crying again, wiping her eyes frantically as she did so. Her vision was blurred by red, her chest feeling extremely constricted, and all she wanted was to be held. 

"W-wait, Rey--"

"Y-you're just going to leave and I-I can't see you until tomorrow? T-that's so long!" She felt pathetic. She hated the words coming out of her mouth, hated that she had gotten this attached, and he had sealed the deal by kissing her. "D-don't leave meeeee!" She wailed out the last part, Ben face twisting in emotional pain as he watched her.

"I'm not leaving, I'm not leaving!" He spoke quickly and she jumped on him, Ben having to catch her quickly as she locked her legs tightly around his waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder as her sobs turned into whimpers. "Rey...oh, God, Rey..." He sighed as he held her closely against him, his eyes flickering over to the hallway where he saw Finn now standing with a wary expression. Why was he freaking out about Rey clinging to him? Why wasn't he allowed in her room? What, would she kill him or something?

...Oh, my God, she _could_ kill him or something...but she'd never do that, right? The way she was clinging to him had to be a sign that she wouldn't. There was no way she would, right? Right?

"You smell so good..." She whimpered loudly into his shoulder, Finn looking ready to rip her away from Ben at any moment. "Ben... _Ben_ , please...hungry..." He felt her head lift and he froze in the spot, Finn's face falling instantly at her words.

"Rey, don't!" Finn called out to her just as her lips pressed against Ben's throat, Rey instantly drawing back with a flustered expression. 

"I-I'm so sorry--"

"Do you have anything for her to eat?" Ben cut her off as he gently wiped her tears away with his thumb (the man was holding her with only one hand now, and she had never felt so weightless and tiny in her entire existence). "I can make sure she eats and goes to sleep, don't worry. I can handle this."

"Ben, I don't think you understand--"

"I can handle this." He repeated as he looked at Finn, Finn clenching his jaw tightly and swallowing thickly in response. In reality, Ben didn't exactly know what he was handling, but the soft, constant purr coming from the back of Rey's throat told him he could. She was content in his arms, her head was now leaning against his shoulder and he could hear her purrs growing louder as her body relaxed against him. 

"S'okay, Finn," Rey murmured peacefully against Ben's shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt him, I promise."

"You almost just _did_ \--"

"I was just going to take a tiny nibble, I wasn't going to hurt him," She nosed Ben's jaw gently, her cool breath ghosting against his neck, and he involuntarily shivered. _Don't think inappropriate thoughts right now, Ben, not in this situation_ , he told himself mentally, but it was _very_ difficult not to. "I promise."

\-----------------------------------

An hour later and she was sitting in Ben's lap on her bed after she showered, her eyes glued to her laptop screen as she slurped down a glass of blood with her curly straw. Ben had asked her what the purpose of the curly Straw even was, and she had simply replied with " _It makes it like I'm drinking koolaid instead of blood. It's more fun._ ". 

"You didn't tell me you binge watched baking shows," Ben chuckled as he rested his chin on her shoulder, his arms wrapped comfortably around her torso. There was a reason Rey nearly had a meltdown when she saw Ben baking, and that is because she was _obsessed_ with baking shows. She had seen every baking show on Netflix at least ten times each.

"Why, are you judging me?" She cracked a smile before drinking down the rest of the glass, Ben humming quietly as he nuzzled her neck. She loved this. She loved this domestic type of love, she had craved it for so long, and now she finally had it. She was just terrified she was going to screw it up somehow. 

"No, not at all." He smirked as he rested his chin on her shoulder again as Rey's eyes flickered over to her heavily curtained window. She could feel the sun coming, and she knew that she would need to be asleep in the next twenty minutes or else her body would begin to fail. 

"Hey, Ben?" She slowly shut the laptop, her room becoming completely enveloped in darkness. "I have to tell you something, okay?" She had to tell him now. She had been thinking about it the entire time in the shower, her thoughts flying as she had watched the blood go down the drain. She knew why she felt this way towards him now, she knew why she had become magnetized to him and him magnetized to her. 

"Can I turn on the lamp or something? I can't see--"

"Hang on," In a blink of an eye the lamp on her bedside table was on with her standing in front of it, Ben blinking a few times as his eyes adjusted. He hadn't even felt her leave his lap. "That good?"

"Yes, thank--"

"Why do you think you chased after me at the parking lot?" She fidgeted with her hands nervously as she faced towards him, Ben furrowing his brows as he turned towards her. 

"What?"

"Why do you think that you, a high ranked police officer, chased after a girl who was just running up to the parking lot rooftop? Surely there are worse crimes, aren't there? It wasn't worth your time, but you chased after me anyway. Why do you think you did that?" She looked beyond nervous, her hands trembling slightly as she spoke. 

"I..." He trailed off as he thought about it, and he couldn't give her a proper answer. She was right, he didn't have to chase after her whatsoever. But when he had seen her from down the lower parking lot level as he was walking back to his squad car from visiting his uncle who lived in that apartment complex, something had told him that he needed to go after her. "Rey, why are you asking this?"

"...Well, I don't know how you're going to take this. You might want to leave immediately after this, you might want to never see me again--"

"Rey, that's fucking dumb." He deadpanned and Rey sucked in her breath as she rocked back and forth on her heels, her hands shoved into her dark green pajama pants. 

"You don't know what it entails, Ben. When Poe found out, he was a little shocked--"

"What does Poe have to do with this? Rey, what are you talking about?" 

"Ben, you nearly sealed it by kissing me--"

"Rey, tell me what you're--"

"Life mates," She shot out in a frantic tone, Ben completely freezing. "We're life mates, Ben. It's extremely uncommon, and the only other life mates I've met are Poe and Finn, and it's--it's _intense_ , Ben. It's why you were instantly drawn to me, it's why I couldn't even keep away from you if I tried, it's why you chased me up to the parking lot roof, and it's why we were at the same nightclub on the same night. Fate is pushing us together, smooshing us up against each other like peanut butter and jam, and--and we can't stop it if we continue. Once we have sex, the bond will be indefinitely sealed. We'd never be able to leave each other, do you understand? Do you understand, Ben?" Her eyes shone with unshed tears, telling him that she was beyond terrified. "D-do you understand?"

For a moment, all he could do was stare at her. She had just told them they were 'life mates', that it wasn't a coincidence that he had ran after her. She had just told him that it was why he felt so intensely about her, why he couldn't stop thinking about her. They were _life mates_. 

"B-Ben--" She was cut off by him pulling her into his lap, Ben smiling brightly before kissing her. _Life mates, life mates, life mates_ , a voice sang from deep within him. _She never has to leave again._

She eagerly kissed back, gently tangling her fingers in his hair as her eyes fluttered closed. _Warmth_. Ben Solo was warmth. Ben Solo was the goddamn sun and he was shining down upon her like the world's most blinding stage light. She found herself becoming even more eager as she pressed tighter against him, his hands slowly going down to grab her ass. She mewled quietly into his mouth as she began to grind down on him, her instincts screaming at her to seal the bond. " _Rey_ ," He breathed her name into the searing kiss, and in return she slowly slipped her tongue into his mouth. 

Then it was ruined by the sound of her fangs popping, instantly making her pull back and get (fell, she practically fell backwards) off his lap while gasping loudly as she covered her mouth and looked away. 

Ben looked positively _wrecked_. She had tousled his hair quite a bit, his lips swollen and his cheeks dusted red. He was breathing shakily as he tried to catch his breath. "Rey, it's okay--"

"I-I'm not ready, I don't want to hurt you," She shook her head while still covering her mouth, her words coming out muffled. "I don't want to accidentally eat you--"

"H-how do you accidentally eat someone?" He was still dazed from her kissing him so heatedly, he could even hear a ringing in his ears as if a loud gunshot had gone off near his ears. It was a dizzying sensation, and he felt like collapsing backwards and melting into her mattress. 

"You'd be surprised..." She laughed sadly as she sat on her knees on the bed in front of him, Ben trying to shake off the dizzying sensation but it only seemed to grow as he stared at her. "It's happened more than once."

"Y-yeah?" He swallowed and she frowned as she reached out and touched his cheek.

"Ben, are you okay? Do you need water?"

"Just tired..." He swallowed again and Rey sighed while nodding. She supposed she had kept him up too long. 

"Come on, let's sleep. I sleep on the left side, if you even _try_ to swap sides with me, I will make you sleep on the floor." She got off the bed, taking off her-- _oh_. 

"Does your underwear say ' _bite me_ '?" He choked out as she was pulled her pants completely off, Rey looking over her shoulder with a slight scowl.

"Ugh, yes, they do. Finn bought me these as a gag gift for Christmas one year, I almost punched him in the face. Keyword is almost." She started to pull back the covers before stopping and looking at Ben. Ben looked back at her with a confused expression, unaware why she had stopped.

"Ben,"

"Yeah?"

"You're on top of the covers, Ben." Ah, it made sense to why she stopped now. He instantly got off the bed and she crawled under the covers, purring as her head hit the pillow. After watching her for a moment her eyes opened and she turned her head towards him. "Are you getting in?" 

"I--yeah," He took off his shirt, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans as well as undoing his belt and sliding it off with her watching him the entire time. Finn was right, this was dangerous. She wanted to practically _jump_ him in this moment, wanting to seal the bond right there and then, but she knew she couldn't. She needed to make sure she wouldn't accidentally kill him first. 

"You wear red plaid boxers?" She giggled as he took his jeans off, Ben slightly scowling at her as he did so. 

"You're gonna shit on me for my choice of boxers as well?"

"No, no," She put her hands up defensively with a huge smile as she fought back the urge to laugh. "I just didn't know you liked the lumberjack aesthetic." 

"God, you're so snarky, you know that?" He crawled into bed beside her, Rey reaching over to the nightstand and turning off the light before laying down with her back to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him, and she began to purr loudly as she closed her eyes.

She didn't have a single nightmare as she slept. All she dreamt of was sunshine smiles and the sound of Ben's laughter.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanfiction maaaaayyyyy be taking a dark turn.
> 
> Also, smut is coming soon, don't worry. I rated this fic E for a reason, and it'll get there soon. 
> 
> Also also, thank you so much for reading this fic so far!!! This is honestly such a fun au and I'm grateful for every kudos, comments, and just hits in general. Thank you guys so much, I hope I can deliver this fic as best as I can 💕

That late morning, Ben could not stop standing in front of Hux's empty parking spot in the parking lot of the precinct. The pitch blackness of the asphalt stared back up at him, and all that played on repeat in his head was Rey, standing in front of him, soaked in Hux's blood. He had been standing in front of it for a good fifteen minutes now, a cup of coffee in his hand that was most certainly cold by now.

When he was awoken that morning by his alarm clock on his phone, he didn't want to get up in the very first place. Rey was on top of him (he had found that she moved a _lot_ in her sleep) with one arm slung over him as well as one leg swung over his thighs. He had laid there for a good thirty minutes, staring up at the ceiling as he ran his fingers gently through her hair. When she had begun to purr softly, he literally had to fight himself to get out of bed and drive back home to get ready for duty. 

And now here he was, standing in front of Hux's empty parking space. He hadn't fully processed his death yet, having only cared about Rey being alright, and now that she was, he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that _she had killed Hux_. What had happened? What had happened to where she had to kill him? How did she even encounter him anyways? 

"Ben!" Ben spun around as he heard Rose, a fellow officer with jet black hair and the brightest dark eyes Ben had ever seen, call out his name. "Ben, what are you--oh." Rose came jogging over, Ben turning back to look at the parking space as she stood by his side. "Isn't it wild...?" She whispered in a melancholy tone as Ben sucked in his breath. Oh, if only she had known how truly wild it was. "I heard he was completely charred, but you could still see where that animal tore out his throat...we think it might be a satanic cop killer or something." 

"... _What_? You're joking, right?" _Shit. Shit, shit, shit._ "We still haven't found Poe, we don't even know if he's dead!"

"It's still highly suspicious though, don't you think? First Poe goes missing, just completely out of the blue, and then Hux is murdered and burned in his own car? Two officers both from our precinct, I think it's a little--"

"Rose, stop." He hadn't meant to bite the words out so coldly but his head was spinning. He felt like running to his car and speeding all the way back to Rey's apartment, crawling into bed with her and basking in the pure bliss that was _her_. But instead he just stood there, glaring angrily down at the parking space as Rose looked at him worryingly. 

"Ben...are you okay?"

 _No, I'm not. I should be with Rey, not here. I don't want her to wake up when the sun goes down and see that I'm not there. I should be with her, not here._ "Yeah, I'm fine." 

"...Maybe you could try grievance counseling? I didn't know you were so close to Hux, actually, I kinda thought you just...strongly disliked him like everyone else. I thought Phasma was the only one super close to him, she couldn't even come in today--"

"I'll see you inside." His tone was cold again as he turned on his heel and started walking toward the precinct, Rose frowning as she stared after him. 

He walked briskly through the precinct doors, ignoring everyone's looks as he walked to his unit. He didn't care if he looked beyond pissed because he _was_ beyond pissed. He should be with Rey, he shouldn't be here. Rey needs him, Rey needs--

"Slow it on down there, Solo," He paused as Kaydel walked up to him, Ben giving her a death stare without even meaning to. "Who shit in your cereal this morning?" She looked him up and down suspiciously as she talked with her brows raised. "You're never this grumpy...is it because of Hux? I'm sorry, Ben, I know you two had duty together frequently--"

"I'm just trying to get to my area, Connix." He practically hissed the words out, Kaydel's eyes widening in pure shock as he did so.

"U-uh...yeah," She cleared her throat as she stepped to the side, Ben walking past her without even giving her a second glance. "Wait, shit, Ben, you need to know that Special Agent Holdo is coming today! She and Special Agent Skywalker have taken Hux's case!" 

The coffee exploded in his hand as he halted to a stop, the cup dropping from his hand as a look of pure terror on his face. _No, no, no, no! No! NO!_ His _uncle_ had taken the case?! Luke _fucking_ Skywalker had taken the case?! The man who never failed to catch the perpetrator?! He nearly fell to his knees as her words had felt like a punch to the gut, all air leaving his system as he realized just how fucked the situation had become.

"Shit, Ben, are you--"

"Why have they taken his case?! Poe wasn't even found! T-there's not a serial killer on the loose, Connix!" He whirled around and Kaydel stared at the crushed coffee cup sitting in a pool of its own decaffeinated contents on the floor. 

"...This isn't about Poe, Ben, this is about Hux," She spoke slowly as her eyes flicked up to his. "Apparently Hux's death isn't the only one like it," _Oh, no._ "Apparently another case--actually _several_ cases just like it have happened over the past sixty years in different towns throughout the United States." _Oh, God, please, no._ "The last case was about fifteen years ago or so, in a different abandoned building parking lot in Dallas, Texas. Same style of attempting to get rid of the body by lighting the car on fire, same animalistic mauling of the throat--"

"Stop," Ben felt like he was going to vomit. "C-Connix, _stop_." _Rey, baby, what did you do?!_ He paused at himself calling her 'baby', his mind wandering off thinking if she would be okay with that. Would she be okay with that? Would she--

"Ben, you look...terrified...are you okay? I didn't know the idea of a prolonged, uncaught serial killer made you feel this...frightened." She looked extremely worried, her brown eyes looking him up and down as if she was trying to figure out what was wrong with him just by looking at him. He prayed she couldn't see what was the matter.

Ben was trying to get ahold of his emotions, desperately seeking his inner calmness as he looked down at the coffee cup. Did Kaydel suspect anything? Would she just chalk it up to fried nerves from Hux's death? She probably would, right? 

"I'm fine--"

"Obviously you're not, you're practically _green_ , Ben. Are you having trouble sleeping again? Does your sleeping medication not help anymore? I can reccomend you plenty of alternatives to help you sleep--"

"I-I'm fine!" His voice nearly cracked as he quickly walked to the men's restroom to grab napkins for the mess his coffee cup left on the ground. He ran into the bathroom, running to the sink and immediately turning on the faucet to splash cold water on his face and wash his coffee stained hand off. His hands were shaking as he did so, his chest heaving as he tried his best not to hyperventilate. All he could think of was Rey. _Rey, Rey, Rey._ He looked up at himself in the mirror, his eyes wild and his face dripping wet from the water he had splashed on his face. _Rey. I have to protect Rey._ "I'm going to protect Rey," He breathed shakily as he spoke to his reflection. "I'm not going to let anything happen to her or her progenies." He hung his head as he tried to regulate his breathing, the only sound audible in the entire bathroom his frantic breathing. _Rey...Rey..._

He felt like the world was ending, like the walls around him were crumbling down at a fast paced rate. All he could think about was Rey screaming and crying in fear, he had heard her in the hallway when he was running to her apartment door (he didn't know how it was her apartment, but he knew what it was before he had even run up the stairs). He had heard her and all he wanted to do was hold her and tell her that everything was fine now, that he was there and he'd never let anyone hurt her. He would--he would _kill anyone that tried_. 

That thought should have terrified him. The thought of murdering someone to protect Rey should've made him realize how deep he was falling, how fast he was sinking into the very idea of her, but it didn't. He didn't even blink as he thought it because _he knew it was true_. 

He quickly grabbed a handful of hand paper towels from the dispenser, wiping his face and hands with two of them before throwing those two away and walking out with the rest of the handful. He got back to the hallway to see Kaydel already cleaning it up, the blonde flashing him a thumbs up with a kind smile before going back to cleaning up the spilt coffee. He slowly walked over to her, handing her the paper towels and she gladly took them. 

"Thanks, Ben. I decided to just clean it up for you because you're obviously having a hard time."

"Thanks, Con--"

"Luke is with your mom in her office by the way, he walked by before going in there asking me to tell you to go say hi." _Shit._

"Yeah, okay...sorry about spilling the coffee," He muttered as he walked off towards his mother's office, his eyes downcast the entire walk there. The moment he stepped into Chief Organa's office, both Luke and Leia looked at him with a smile.

"Ben! It's good to see you buddy!" Luke grinned from where he was leaning against Leia's desk as Leia gave him an equal grin. Ben didn't want to smile back, but he forced himself to anyways. 

"Hey, uncle Luke...you took the case?" _Please go home, Luke. Just tell Holdo that she can do it alone._

"Yes, yes, I did," Luke nodded as he picked up his mug of coffee off of Leia's desk, Leia chuckling as she straightened out some papers in front of her. 

"Apparently Luke has been into this case for a while. Wasn't it on the news once?"

"Yeah, more than once. I think we'll finally catch the guy." 

"Thank God, we don't need some psychotic, satanic serial killer on the loose!" Leia laughed and Ben had to seat down in one of the chairs by the door. 

"Ben, honey, are you--"

"I'm fine." He had to force himself not to spit the words out, to not glare at his mother. He had never felt this type of anger and fear in his entire life, and he was slowly feeling as if he was losing his sanity. He needed Rey, he needed to go back to Rey. 

"What have you been up to since I last saw you, buddy? That was almost three weeks ago, wasn't it? Maybe a little longer?" Luke smiled softly, his blue eyes shining in the bright lights of the office. 

_Rey. Rey happened to me, and I need to go to her._ "Nothing, just the usual. I started painting my walls a different color, but that's all." He forced a smile again and both Luke and Leia looked at him with slightly worried expressions. He had never been good at hiding what he was really feeling. "I might remodel my kitchen if I'm feeling spicy, who knows." He had never smoked a single cigarette in his life, and now he was suddenly craving one. 

"Your kitchen, huh? Well, at least you're getting rid of that awful red. Your father and I have tried to convince you to redo your walls for years, why the sudden change?" Leia smiled as she rested her elbows on the desk. 

"...Just a change of scenery," Ben's mouth hurt from fake smiling so much in the last few minutes. "That's all." 

\------------------------------------

Ben was losing his fucking mind as he heard rumors spread across the precinct about the case. Some were saying it was an old cult resurrected, some were saying it was an old serial killer coming out of hiding, and some were saying there was a copy cat mad man trying to recreate the killings from the past. But the rumors all ended with one singular sentence with six simple words: "Special Agent Skywalker will catch them." 

He hadn't even gone out on duty yet, having metaphorically trapped himself inside the precinct to hear every single thing people were saying about the case. His thoughts were only dark, only frantic, and everyone noticed him glaring at them angrily as he walked by. Both Kaydel and Rose as well as Paige kept trying to make conversation with him, trying to get him to smile and lighten his abnormally ice cold demeanor, but all he would do was politely smile (a highly forced smile) and tell them he had things he needed to do. 

The moment the sun set, he was practically flying out of the station and running to his car. His expression was frantic, his only thought consisting of one word: " _Rey._ "

He sped all the way to his house, needing to grab a few things before returning to Rey's apartment. He had washed the paint splattered shirt she left at his house and he didn't have a moment to grab it and give it to her until now. 

He practically burst through his front door, only to halt as he smelled something burning. Oh, God, was his kitchen on fire?! He ran into the kitchen to see Rey freaking out by the oven. 

"...Rey?!"

"I-I was trying to fucking make biscuits but I--ugh, hold on," She huffed as she opened the oven, pulling out the tray with her _bare hands_ and placing it on the counter. "Dammit, they're blackened--" She was cut off by Ben rushing over and grabbing her hands, the man's eyes widening in both shock and awe as he saw the blistered flesh of her palms heal before his very eyes. Rey chuckled quietly in response to his reaction, but quickly stopped as he brought her hand to his lips to place a soft kiss against the freshly healed skin. 

"I missed you," He breathed shakily as his eyes met hers and Rey blinked in shock at his disheveled appearance. The man looked like he had been going through pure hell all day, and now he looked as if he was finally relaxing. It made her imagine herself as an oasis in his neverending desert of a day. "I missed you so, so, so much, Rey..."

"What...happened today, Ben?"

"Oh, baby, you have no fucking idea." He laughed bitterly, deciding to himself at that moment to tell her what had happened later, and Rey tensed up at him calling her that. It made her feel warm and fuzzy, like her thoughts had turned to complete static but not in an awful way. "But you slept well, yeah? Did you eat?" He was smiling as he cradled her face in his hands, Rey just staring up at him with wide eyes.

"I--yeah," She slowly smiled back, relaxing as she did so. "Yeah, I slept great, and I ate three blood bags before I came over here. I was trying to make you biscuits--"

"They're great, I love them," He laughed as he looked over at them and Rey snorted softly in disagreement. "No, no, don't make that noise. It's your first time baking, right? They're only a little blackened, they're fine! You didn't set the kitchen on fire--"

"I _almost_ did!" She pouted and Ben couldn't stop smiling at her. "The oven was almost bloody smoking, did you not see that?!"

"I see a beautiful woman who did better than most when it comes to baking for the first time." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, Rey letting out a small squeak at the compliment. "Are you going to ice them? Do you want me to help you?"

"M-mmn...yeah..." She leaned happily into his touch and Ben nearly started crying in pure joy. She was here, she was right here. She was here. "Warm..." She sighed happily as she put her hand over his, and Ben gently pressed their foreheads together. Could he stay in this moment forever, he wondered? 

\------------------------------------

An hour later and her head was in his lap on the couch as they watched TV, a loud, constant purr emitting from the back of her throat as she laid there curled up with her eyes closed as Ben ran his fingers through her hair. She had been laying with her head on his lap for ten minutes now, feeling extremely content and relaxed. She felt _happy_ and she wasn't exactly sure how to internally process it correctly. She had never been this comfortable in her entire existence, she had never felt the real warmth of happiness until Ben. 

A sharp pain in her stomach made the comfort shatter and her eyes fly open. 

"Rey? You okay?" Ben had felt her jolt, looking down at her with a concerned look in his eyes. She nodded quickly and looked at the TV while biting her lower lip nervously, her eyes slightly frantic. "Rey...please tell me what's--"

"I need to eat," She breathed shakily as she sat up and Ben instantly missed her head on his lap. "Blood bags sate the hunger for a few hours, at most, but--"

"You need to eat people in order for it to fully go away." He sighed as he rested his head back against the couch, Rey looking over at him nervously. Was he mad at her? 

"I-I'm sorry--"

"Why are you apologizing?" He looked over at her, reaching over and gently pushing her hair back with a soft smile. "You can't help it, it's in your nature. I'm not upset, Rey. Did you think that you needing to eat upsets me?" 

"It--it should...?" Her pitch got slightly higher towards the end as she looked at him with a slightly strange expression. "I'm going out to kill someone and then _eat_ them, Ben, you have every right to be upset--"

"I'd be more upset if you starved," He was still smiling. "After all, you shouldn't go hungry. Go eat, I'll wait for you." He was...still smiling. Why was he so comfortable with this? Why wasn't he terrified of her? Had the bond blinded him? Was--was this a mistake? 

"Um...Ben, I'm going out to kill someone, why are you--"

"It's just the food chain, Rey, why are you so worried about what I think?" His smile was faltering as fear entered his eyes. "Do...you want me to be upset?"

"No," She crawled into his lap, straddling him and gently holding his face in her hands. This was not a mistake, she had to keep reminding herself this. She deserved happiness. "No, no, love, I don't. I'm just...surprised that you're so comfortable with it." She assumed that he was just politely ignoring it before, but now she realized that maybe he wasn't just politely ignoring it. Aren't humans supposed to be incredibly uncomfortable (more like horrified) by the thought of her needing to eat someone? And shouldn't humans be _especially_ horrified by her telling them in the comfort of their own home that she was going off to go eat someone? 

His heart flipped as she called him 'love', a jaw splitting smile plastered on his face as he looked at her. "Of course I'm comfortable with it, it's a part of you Rey. I could never be upset by anything you do." 

She should've seen the red flags in that moment, she should've felt how strongly the bond was affecting him and his sanity, but she was too blinded by his warmth to see them. 

She should've seen them because little did she know that Ben would become just as dark as her with one singular act in the upcoming days.


	10. Chapter 10

Rey stood in Ben's shower, hugging herself tightly as the blood washed off of her with a horrified expression on her face. 

She had suppressed her hunger for too long and, as a result, she had massacred five people in the darkness of a subway station. The sound of flesh tearing and bones cracking as well as blood curdling screams echoed around in her head, her body beginning to shake violently. 

She hadn't lost control like that in _years_ , and she was now, more than ever, terrified than she was going to accidentally hurt Ben. What if she had continued to ignore her hunger to spend more time with him? She would've ate him. She knew she would've, and because of that, she had completely ignored him when she had come back from her hunt. She had ran right past him, covered head to toe in blood, and he, of course, had ran after her. She had locked the bathroom door just in time, having instantly turned on the shower and choking back tears as she did. 

"Rey, _please_ , tell me what's wrong! Did someone hurt you? Rey, goddammit, you're scaring me!" He was knocking on the door frantically, and Rey chewed her lower lip nervously. _You're being self destructive by ignoring him, Rey. You will lose him_ , a voice whispered in the back of her mind and her head instantly snapped up at this. She couldn't have that.

"B-Ben--"

"Just open the door, Rey, I don't give a _fuck_ if you get blood tainted water all over the floor!" Ben barked loudly and she jumped at his tone, practically scrambling out of the shower and threw open the door with a shocked expression. "Rey, did someone hurt you?!" He was _enraged_ and Rey instinctually cowered, letting out a small hiss as her fangs popped. 

Ben blinked in surprise at this before fully understanding that her instincts believed he had intentions to-- _intentions to harm her._ "Oh--oh, God, Rey, I'm not going to hurt you! Why would you think I would--I'd never!" He instantly put his hands up and took a step backwards, Rey's expression softening and her fangs retracted. He suddenly looked down and realized that, yes, she was naked, and yes, she was dripping wet with traces of blood still clinging to her hair and skin. His eyes instantly darted back up to hers as his cheeks started to feel hot.

"...I did something really bad, Ben," She teared up as she hugged herself, her bottom lip quivering. "I did something really, really, _really_ bad--"

"Did you get rid of the evidence, Rey?" He stepped back forward, gently turning her face towards his. 

"I threw them on the tracks in the subway...I heard--fuck, I heard them being ran over. It'll be chalked up to group suicide or something, I wore gloves anyways--"

"Rey, you--Rey--" Fear gripped his heart, his head spinning and his vision beginning to grow faintly blurry. _You can't protect her_ , a voice hissed in the back of his mind. "What have you done...?!"

"B-Ben, I don't understand, I've done this before and it was--"

"The FBI are on the _fucking_ case, Rey, and having a subway car run over numerous bodies won't be chalked up to group suicide! Not with the animalistic mauling shit on their throats! Rey, why did you--"

"T-the FBI...?!" She choked out in a horrified tone and Ben's heart fell into his stomach. He shouldn't have waited to tell her. "Y-you'll take care of it right, Ben? Right?!" She looked ready to break down and he would forever be haunted by the vision of her face twisted in pure terror. 

"Yes," He choked out, his voice cracking as he pulled her close and Rey clung to him tightly. "Yes, yes, _God_ , yes. Yes," He held her tighter, Rey letting out a loud whine of fear as she shook in his arms. "I'm already on it, Rey, don't you worry...but you can't do this again. You have to choose only one person a night, and--and I'll get rid of the body of you, okay? I'll take care of it."

Rey completely froze at his words, her lips parting as her grip on him loosened. He would _what_? "Y-you'll what?"

"I'll help you, Rey, okay? It's okay, we've got this, don't worry. Don't be afraid of anything, I'll take care of everything, okay?" He kissed the top of her head softly and Rey swallowed thickly. "Okay?"

"Y-yeah..." She slowly clutched his shirt in her hands. "Okay, Ben." 

\-----------------------------------------

At three in the morning, Rey was wide awake as Ben slept and she had crawled up on the roof to sit and think about everything that had happened so far. She could _feel_ him becoming darker, and she knew it was all because of her. She had become an eclipse and completely blacked out the very sun that is Ben Solo. 

It was surprisingly silent in Ben's neighborhood, one of the only sounds a passing car now and again. She tried (and succeeded every single time) to place each sound of a car's engine to its type of model. So far she had heard five Hondas, three Fords, and one Mustang. There was the other sound, the rustling of leaves in various trees in various backyards and front yards, and she pretended that they were whispering the answers to all her problems. _You should leave_ , they whispered. _You should leave so you can't kill him or his light._

"I am a selfish creature," She whispered back. "And I cannot leave him because I feel like I'd be leaving the sun behind." 

_The sun has already left you._ She winced at the truth in the thought, that the sun had left her eight hundred years ago, but Ben was--Ben was her personal sun. How could she leave when she has her own personal sun? Even if she was blocking out his light...? 

"Rey...?" She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Ben call out of his bedroom window, Rey peeking her head over the edge of the roof to see him looking up at her. "What are you doing up there?"

"Just thinking," She smiled softly and he gave her an uncertain expression. "It's nice up here, I just wanted some air."

"Are you having trouble breathing?" He looked genuinely concerned and Rey couldn't help but laugh out loud as she shook her head. She'd never had someone worry so much about her, not even Finn. 

"I don't need to breathe, Ben, did you forget that?" 

"...Maybe," He sucked in his breath and Rey laughed again as she threw her head back. When was the last time she genuinely laughed like this? She couldn't remember. "Aren't you cold? It's supposed to be in the fifties--"

"I can't feel the cold," Even in times of laughter, something always reminded her that she was what she was. "Only heat."

"I feel like an idiot for asking that question. Of course you can't feel cold, your skin is literally freezing like an icebox--"

"Keep talking about how uncomfortably cold my skin is and I won't cuddle you!" She stuck her tongue out playfully at him and he barked out a laugh as he grinned. 

"Well, I definitely don't want that. Come back inside, I can wrap you up in a blanket and set you up with my laptop." 

"You will?" Rey gasped excitedly as she started climbing down the side of the house to Ben's window, Ben's expression falling as he watched her with wide eyes.

"You--you weren't kidding about being able to climb on walls--"

"Nope, I wasn't," She gave him a quick peck on the lips before making her way through his window as he backed up, the moonlight highlighting every one of her features as she looked at him. "Does it freak you out?"

"We could do the Spiderman kiss if we wanted," He muttered as he blushed darkly and Rey bit her lower lip with a smile. 

"The Spiderman kiss, huh? I should've taken you for a huge comic book nerd,"

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"I can just see little middle school Ben on his bedroom floor flipping through comic books," She smirked and Ben blushed darker as his expression turned flustered. How had she known? "Were you more DC or Marvel? I personally like the DC comics better, you can't get a better villain than the Joker."

"Uh...Marvel..." He blinked and Rey snorted softly as she stretched, standing on her tippy toes as she stretched her arms upwards. 

"I can see it," She winked as she stopped stretching, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around the room. But in Ben's vision, he saw nothing but her. Everything else was a blinding white, a luminous landscape, and she was smack dab in the middle. She was _glowing_ in his eyes. "I bet you--"

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He breathed out and Rey nearly choked on her spit with an extremely flustered expression at his words. "I'm so serious, you're stunning. How could you ever think you're this evil creature when you're the most vibrant angel--"

"Oof, I don't do well with compliments," She laughed nervously with a flustered expression still, her eyes darting away from his. "S'kinda...cheesy..." She cleared her throat after laughing nervously once more and Ben walked over to her, gently brushing her hair out of her face with a smile as her eyes flicked up to his. 

"Get used to it," He leaned down and kissed her softly, Rey slowly relaxing and gently placed her hands on his chest as she kissed back with the same softness. Slow, she had told him she wanted to take it slow when it came to intimacy, and he had completely understood. He was no longer afraid of her killing him though, having told her that there was no way she possibly could hurt him, and that deeply unsettled her. Poe was never this blind as a human with the bond, was he? He never acted this way about Finn, right? Was--was this normal...? Ben had become delusional with the accelerated love from the bond, and Rey was terrified. 

_"Even if you do accidentally hurt me, it'll be okay. I won't be mad, baby, it's just your instincts. I can't blame you, and I never will."_ He had said that with a smile only a few hours ago and it was still echoing in the back of her mind. How could he possibly think she wouldn't accidentally hurt him? She was _old_ , an ancient to her kind, and because of that she was less controlled when it came to eating. You would think it would be the other way around, but newborns these days had to live by today's standards and be careful. They would be created and instantly taught to be stealthy, to be careful (although most of them were too idiotic to listen and got killed by hunters in return), and it had been the complete opposite for Rey. Her first feeding had been horrific. She remembered the village, remembered the fire and screaming, and she remembered standing in the middle of it all, covered head to toe with innocent blood, with an emotionless expression. There was no need to be cautious back then, no need to worry about the police or hunters. Hunters hadn't become a thing until the mid fourteen hundreds, and she had been lucky to never encounter one. She almost had, though, and she could still remember his name. 

_Anakin Skywalker_. 

It had been back in the early fifties, the rain pouring down on her as she stood on top of a roof with a murderous expression while she glared down at him. He was right below her, standing there with his gun and screaming at her to come out, to face him. He hadn't seen her, but she had seen him, and that was all she needed to start being more careful. Finn was barely even thirty in her kind's years at the point, and she should've been more careful just for his sake. She swore his partner had seen her, she swore she thought she saw him look up at her, but they had both left quickly as police sirens started blaring from a few blocks away. 

"Hey, you okay?" He pulled back with a concerned expression and Rey nodded quickly. _Let old fear die, Rey._

"Yeah, of course, sorry. Sometimes I just go off into space," She sat on the bed and started playing with a strand of her hair as she looked towards the still open window. "'Zoning out', I think they call it." 

"Do you maybe want to go to sleep early? Are you feeling alright?"

"I _wish_ I could go to bed early!" She laughed loudly as she fell back on the bed, her back hitting the heavenly soft mattress. "My body won't even entertain the idea of going to sleep early because it _needs_ to be sunrise before I can fall asleep. Well, unless I'm majorly depressed. Then I can kinda force myself to sleep, but it feels really strange. It's like I'm awake _and_ asleep at the same time until the sun comes up. It's kind of like that phenomenon you humans call 'lucid dreaming'." She sighed as she closed her eyes, her eyes continuing to stay closed as she felt him lay down beside her. 

"You're not depressed, are you?" He whispered and she opened her eyes then as she turned her head to look at him. He looked like he wanted to help her so bad, to take all her burdens and put them on his shoulders instead, and she felt that strange fluttering sensation in her chest yet again for the first time that morning. 

"No, Ben, I'm not depressed," _I'm terrified_ , she whispered mentally as she placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm perfectly content." _I'm terrified you're becoming like me. I'm terrified you're becoming a shadow._

\-------------------------------------------

At six in the morning, Rey was giggling as she was attempting to make pancakes with a very groggy Ben. "You stir it like this, yeah?" 

"Yes, but just less with the force of a thousand suns--"

"Oh, you're afraid I'll get the batter all over your pristine floor? Is Miss Hannigan still on your arse for me standing on it?"

"Rey, I swear to--" A loud knock on Ben's door interrupted him, Rey's smile slowly vanishing as she stopped stirring. Who the hell was knocking on Ben's door at six in the morning? She couldn't smell them, which was highly abnormal, and an acidic fear began to grow in the pit of her stomach. 

"Ben, who's that...?" She whispered and Ben groaned as he buried his face in his hands before pushing his hair back and walking to the front door. 

"It's probably some package or something, I don't--" Ben opened the door to reveal Luke standing there with a huge grin and a box of donuts in his hands. Ben blinked for a moment before opening his mouth to speak, but no words came out so he instantly shut it. _Shit._

"Hey, buddy! I thought I'd bring you by some donuts and we could ride to the station together!" Luke spoke in an enthusiastic tone and Ben blinked once more. _Shit, shit, shit. Shit._

"Ben, who is that...?" Rey called out from the kitchen and Luke looked momentarily stunned, Ben internally screaming as he stepped back from the door to let Luke in. 

"This is my, uh, uncle Luke, Rey," Ben cleared his throat and Rey instantly came into the living room with the bowl of batter still in her hands as well as the stirring spoon. "Luke, this is Rey. She's my--"

"I didn't know you finally got a girlfriend!" Luke gasped excitedly and Rey nearly dropped the bowl on the carpet (which, once again, she should've dropped the bowl and ruined the carpet but now was not the time). Was she technically Ben's girlfriend? She was his life mate, that meant so much more than the title 'girlfriend', but she supposed it would have to do. 

"That's me," Rey laughed in a slightly nervous tone as her eyes darted to a very panicked Ben and then back to a very giddy Luke. "Ben's girlfriend. I'm Rey, it's wonderful to meet you."

"Just Rey, huh? No last name?" Luke chuckled and Rey shrugged with a polite smile. She thanked God she had worn her leggings that she had washed a few hours ago. If she was just in Ben's shirt, this situation would've been _way_ worse. 

"Just Rey." She looked back at Ben who looked like he secretly trying to keep his breathing under control. Why was he freaking out? He was just his uncle, wasn't he? Unless he-- _unless he was part of the FBI._

"Well, 'just Rey', if I had known that you were here I wouldn't have stopped by. My apologies for intruding--"

"No, no, we were just making pancakes! I should go get some sleep though, I haven't slept yet--"

"Oh, do you work nights? What do you do for a living?" Luke was still smiling but Rey could tell that he was trying to figure her out by just looking at her. 

"...Nurse," She replied slowly and Ben pressed his lips together tightly while he looked away. "I'm a...nurse. For kids! Nurse for kids!" She laughed loudly and Ben could tell she was laughing purely because she was panicking. "I love kids! Kids are great!"

"Oh, maybe you'll finally give Leia the grandchild she's been pestering Ben about for a good two years now." Luke laughed and Rey laughed back, her eyes darting over to Ben. He could see the sheer fear in her eyes, the need to run away radiating off of her in thick clouds. "Anyways, do you mind if I stay while Ben gets ready?"

"N-not at all! I'm going to go get some sleep anyways, I didn't come home until four. Um, Ben, here's the batter," She walked over to Ben, shoving the bowl with the spoon in it into his hands. "I'll see you when you get home, yeah? Go out there and...be a police officer! Hoorah for the law!" She shakily did jazz hands and Ben's expression softened as he stared down at her. She was _petrified_. He guessed she must have guessed that Luke was a part of the FBI. "Okay, I--I lo--" She struggled to get the words out, hating that this was the moment where she would say 'I love you' for the first time. She didn't even know if she was ready for that, and she knew she had to finish saying it now or Luke would think it strange. "I love you!" She spoke quickly before taking off and going down the hall.

Ben felt like God had touched him when those three words left her lips. It felt like the sun was on his skin, like an angel had kissed him softly. 

"She's cute, I'm happy for you!" Luke shattered the moment entirely, Ben fighting off the urge to glare angrily at his uncle. "How long have you two been dating? It must have been recently because surely you would have told--"

"A few months," He forced out, feeling the urgent need to lie. "We're just taking it very slow because this is her first relationship in...years." _More like centuries._ "She doesn't exactly like people that much--"

"How odd of her to be an introvert when she works with children--"

"Children are different from adults." Ben muttered as he took the box of donuts from his uncle and they both walked into the kitchen.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Rey was shakily looking through an old family photo album of Ben's she had found in his closet an hour before as she sat in the middle of his bedroom. It was distracting her slightly, seeing young photos of Ben and photos of his family members. "Aw, ha-ha, you were into Marvel..." She laughed quietly as she found a photo of six year old Ben dressed up as Spiderman for Halloween. She continued to flip through the photo album, pausing as she saw a photo hidden behind another one. "A hidden photograph...?" She gently pulled it out, her face falling as she dropped both the photograph and the album on the floor. It was a photo of a man smiling and standing in front of the empire state building, a young woman standing beside him who was obviously pregnant.

On the photograph it read "Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala Naberrie, New York, 1951". 

Her eyes rolled back and she fainted, her back and head hitting the floor with a sickening 'thud'.

_Ben Solo was related to a hunter._


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think the anthem of this entire fic is "Always Forever" by Cults. I listened to it while writing the majority of this chapter. 
> 
> Also, the bond creates a very toxic like mindset where the only thing they care about currently is each other. It's why Ben has become extremely darker, and it's why Rey is being more self destructive than usual. It'll fix itself when they complete it, but for right now it's just a very disturbing mindset for both of them. (God, this got dark fast, huh? I've always thought vampire romance to be extremely dark in the first place, and I tried to portray that darkness as best as I could ^^; it'll get happy again, I promise, but...the angst ain't done yet ^^;;;;;)

Ben had immediately ran up the stairs when he heard the thud, practically falling to his knees in front of Rey and cradling her in his arms. He had desperately tried to wake her, keeping his voice as deathly quiet as he could, but she hadn't of woken whatsoever. His eyes had flickered over to the lone photograph on the ground, the one of his grandfather that his mother had purposely hidden behind a photo in the album because the very thought of him and her mother pained her. 

Anakin Skywalker had gone missing just before Luke and Leia had been born, and their mother had died from childbirth. Their 'uncle', Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi, had raised them until he died when they were both nineteen. He was named after Ben, and while there were numerous photos of his great uncle in the photo album, there was not a single one of Anakin or Padmé to be seen. 

Why had Rey passed out after seeing this? There was no way she would've known Anakin, was there? 

And now Ben was driving Luke's car to the station with a hidden rage in his eyes as Luke chattered happily in the passenger seat. "You know, Ben, you really should've told us sooner! Your dad and mom are going to be so happy--"

"My personal life is none of their concern," He spoke as he adjusted the stick shift, his expression slightly solemn. He _hated_ that Luke's car was a stick shift. "Especially when it comes to dating."

"Ah, I get it," Luke put his hands up defensively and Ben had to force his eye not to twitch. "I completely understand. I'm just really excited for you, buddy. The last time you had a girlfriend was high school, and we kind of assumed you'd just stick solo. You know, be a lone wolf and all--"

"Well, you assumed wrong. Rey and I are very happy together, thank you." His words definitely had a bite to them and Luke noticed this instantly, the older man frowning slightly in response. 

"Ben...I know we bug you a lot, but it's only because we love you. You get that, right? Your dad, your mom and me all love you to death and we all want what's absolutely best for you."

"I know--"

"Do you?" Sometimes his uncle could have a very intimidating vibe to him, and Ben could feel it now. It was thick and made him feel claustrophobic, like he was being interrogated. "Do you really, Ben?"

"Y-yeah--yeah, yeah, Luke, I do," Ben sucked in his breath as he maneuvered the stick shift once again as they stopped at a light. "Of course I do."

"Great!" Luke chirped as his bright smile returned and Ben slowly let himself relax against his seat. He instantly tensed back up as his thoughts went to Rey, Ben gripping the steering wheel tightly as he glared at the red light. _I should be with her, I should've just said I was feeling sick._

"Was Rey alright by the way? I heard that 'thud' upstairs, it sounded rather dreadful. She didn't fall, did she?"

"Ah, no, she just dropped something. She's fast asleep in bed by now, I assume." He had carried her to the bed and had tucked her in under the covers, drawing the blinds on his window and even duct taped a towel over it so no light whatsoever could get in. "Will you hold off on telling mom and dad about her until she's ready to meet everyone?" _She'll never meet my parents, I can't let her become even more panicked than she already is._ "Like you said, she's an introvert, and she's extremely shy--"

"She didn't seem too shy to me at all! I thought she was rather...exuberant," Luke hummed as the light turned green and Ben continued to drive. "She's got a lovely laugh, you know."

"Yes, well, she was trying to be _polite_ ," Ben tried his very best not to hiss out the word. "She gets spooked easily."

"Ah, trauma?" Luke frowned and Ben nearly slammed on the brakes. Why the _fuck_ was Luke so curious about her in the first place? He hadn't cared at all about his past girlfriends, barely even looked at them when he had brought them around his parent's house, and now he was suddenly extremely into the idea of Rey? What the _fuck_ was that about? 

"I--that's a little personal, isn't it?"

"Well, I just want to know what she's like, Ben. That's all. She's got a very... _unique_ vibe to her." Ben kept his eyes on the road as Luke said those words, too nervous to look over at his uncle. He could _feel_ him staring at him and he had never wanted to jump out of a moving car so badly in his life. "How did you two meet, if you mind me asking?"

"Coffee shop," _Just stay cool, Ben. Breathe and keep lying to protect her._ "She was on her way to a yoga studio."

"Yoga! Ah, how exciting! She must be very down to earth then, hmm?" Luke laughed as he gently nudged him and Ben gave a simple 'mhm' in response. "You know, your great uncle was super into yoga as well. He really loved all that 'inner zen' stuff. I'm sure he would've loved Rey."

"Yeah, I'm sure he would've." Ben muttered as they neared the station, his nerves growing more and more fried as they got closer. He still wanted to turn around and go back to his house, to run up the stairs and crawl next to Rey just to hold her until she woke up at sunset.

"I'll keep her a secret though, don't worry. I wouldn't want to upset her, now would I?" 

"Yeah, thanks. It would genuinely mean a lot to both her and I if you just kept this under wraps until she's ready to meet my parents."

"I hope it's soon, I really do quite like her." Ben couldn't see the hidden malice in Luke's eyes, nor could he see that Luke had a certain feeling about what she was. After all, Obi-Wan had taught him extremely well on how to spot _leeches_.

\--------------------------------------

Rey forced herself to wake up around two in the afternoon, gasping loudly for unneeded air as her eyes shot open. It _hurt_ to be awake this early, and every single limb and bone in her body were screaming at her to go back to sleep. "G-gotta tell Finn..." She croaked out as she crawled out of bed only to fall to her knees on the ground, the vampire whining loudly in excruciating pain as she squeezed her eyes shut while keeling over. Her body was trembling violently, her fangs fully extended and her pupils barely even visible as she reopened her eyes to look towards the door. "G-gotta--gotta tell Finn..." 

There hadn't been any hunters in the New York tristate area since the early fifties, since her encounter with Anakin Skywalker, and now she knew why. The last Skywalker had been _hiding_ , had been disguising himself as a goddamn FBI agent and just waiting for her to fuck up to catch her. She knew Luke was a hunter the moment she saw that photograph simply because Luke had no scent whatsoever. Hunters didn't have scents, it was a strange genetic phenomenon with them, and it was so that her kind couldn't sense them. The thing was though, did Luke know her? Did he know what she was? He _had_ to know what she was, didn't he? The way he had stared her down had made her feel like a bug under a microscope, and that was all the evidence she needed to tell that he did in fact know what she was. 

She began to crawl towards the door on her stomach, gritting her teeth and trying her best not to scream as she did so. There had to be a phone around here somewhere, a house phone or _something_. Finn still had a phone, in fact, Finn really loved his phone. He was super into all that technology crap while Rey positively _loathed_ it, and she had only been able to keep a phone for a few months before turning it off and shoving it into a drawer to never see the light again. 

"F-fucking-- _fuck_ \--" She was panting by the time she got to the door, laying down flat on her stomach as she tried to find the strength to keep going. There were no windows in Ben's hallway (thank Christ), so she didn't have to worry about burning to death (which was a severe plus to the whole apocalyptic level situation). She needed to get to a phone, she needed to call Finn to let him know so when he woke up he would get her voicemail and take himself and Poe as far away as possible from New York. She couldn't risk them being hurt, couldn't feel the pain of their deaths (literally, she would feel it when it happened), and she needed them to _run to safety_. 

She bit back a scream as she began to crawl forward again, tears spilling from her eyes as she forced herself to crawl. It _hurt_. It hurt more than anything she had ever endured in her existence, it hurt like the only kind of pain you can imagine in hell. She felt like she was dying with each movement forward, and she let out a scream through clenched teeth as she continued. All she could think of was Ben in that moment, thinking about how she had given herself a death wish just by meeting him.

This was what she had orginally wanted though, isn't it? To die? Wasn't she tired of living? Tired of existing, tired of living each night and having nothing to gain from it?

But that was before Ben. 

That was before sunshine smiles, before jubilous laughter, before feeling his warmth, and before feeling his _love_. 

Now all she wanted to do was _live_. Not for herself, but for Ben. He _was_ her reason for living and she just hadn't acknowledged it properly until this very moment. She wanted to see him, she wanted to see his smile. She wanted to feel his warmth, to be held in his arms tightly and have him tell her that everything was okay because he was there. 

In her blurred vision, she could've sworn she saw someone running up the stairs. She could hear her name being shouted but it sounded so distant, so far away. A ringing in her ears took the place of all other noises as she felt someone pick her up and lift her off the ground. Before her vision went black, she whispered one word: " _Ben._ "

\--------------------------------------

Ben had felt her agony through the bond. He had dropped everything, ran to his car, and sped home. The entire time he was panicking, shouting curse words loudly in a broken tone as he tried to get to her as fast as possible. He had been talking to Rose when he had felt it, and he nearly fell to his knees and screamed from the sensation of his very blood boiling. When he had gotten home, he threw open the door to hear Rey screaming behind clenched teeth, and that was all it took for him to run as fast as he could upstairs and save her from whatever was harming her. He had shouted her name from the top of the stairs, and she looked practically _dead_. He had shouted her name again and ran towards her, leaning down and scooping up in his arms. She whispered his name as he ran her into the bedroom, Ben instantly diving in bed with her and holding her tightly against him as he fought back tears. 

He was trembling, his vision blurred by hot tears as he buried his face into her hair and let out a quiet whimper. She had been hurting and he hadn't been there. She had woken up and he hadn't been there. He had _failed_ to protect her, he had failed to protect the only person that he had ever loved. He felt like everything was spiraling out of control, _that she was already gone_ , and he couldn't hold back the loud, choked sob from the back of his throat as he held her even tighter against his chest. 

How had he let this happen? How had he not stayed? She was so much more important than anything else, and he had left her alone. He had let her go through excruciating pain and he hadn't of been there to help her soon enough. 

Five hours later and Rey's eyes fluttered open to a pitch black room, shifting her body slightly to turn her head. Ben was fast asleep behind her, his arms still wrapped around her and his brows furrowed in worry even in his sleep. He looked tortured and he wasn't even awake. "Oh, Ben..." She whispered and he slowly opened his eyes, soft brown meeting eerie reflective green.

"Rey," Ben's voice cracked slightly as he smiled and Rey teared up, turning on her side to face him as she gently put her hand on his cheek. "You're okay..."

"Of course I'm okay, Ben, it would take more than that to kill me. I'm fine--"

"But why were you up in the first place...?" 

It all came crashing back and Rey's face instantly twisted in horror as she jerked backwards. "I-I have to call Finn--"

"Wait, why? Rey, what--"

"Why the _fuck_ didn't you tell me you were a Skywalker, Ben?" Rey choked out and Ben's face contorted in utter confusion. Why was she--the photo. His grandfather.

"You knew Anakin?!"

"He tried to FUCKING KILL ME!" She screamed the last part and Ben's heart dropped to his stomach as they both bolted up, Rey flipping on the light switch from across the room in under a second. 

"R-Rey, I didn't know--"

"A-and your uncle is a fucking hunter too, Ben! He has no scent and he was looking at me like--like he _knew_ , Ben!" She was sobbing now, hugging herself tightly as she hung her head. "H-he knows and I need to tell Finn and Poe to _run_ \--"

"I'll take care of it," He rushed over to her, pulling her close and holding her tightly against him. She instantly clung to him, clutching his shirt as she sobbed into his chest. "I'll take care of it, Rey, I promise. Use my phone to call Finn, okay? You're going to be fine, I'll make sure no one hurts you, even if it means I have to--"

"W-would you really harm your own uncle, Ben...?" She whimpered loudly and he clenched his jaw. 

Would he? Would he harm his own uncle if he was trying to hurt Rey? He pushed that thought down, not wanting to process his feelings over it. 

"...Call Finn, Rey." Ben kissed the top of her head before pulling his phone out of his pocket and handing it to her, Rey wiping her eyes frantically before wiping her bloodstained hands on her shirt. She took his phone, opening up the phone feature and quickly dialed Finn's number. After three rings, he picked up and Rey instantly perked up.

" _Rey, you okay? Where are you, where are you calling from? Do you need me to come and_ \--"

"I need you to pack a suitcase, have Poe pack one too, and I both need you to leave New York immediately."

" _W-what?! What the hell, Rey, what is_ \--"

"A hunter found me, Finn. A hunter found me and I can't risk either you or Poe getting killed. You can go to the beach house in California, you know? Y-you--you can feed the seagulls for me, okay?" She was crying again, desperately trying to keep it together as her body shook violently. Ben held her close once more, resting his chin on top of her head as he closed his eyes tiredly. 

" _Rey, no, you're coming with us_ \--" 

"No, I'm not, Finn," She looked up at Ben with tear filled eyes, Ben looking down at her with an exhausted smile. "I'm staying with Ben. I'm staying with my life mate."

" _Rey, no! No, no, no, I'm not fucking losing_ \--" She hung up the phone and slipped it back into Ben's pocket, never breaking eye contact with him as she did so. 

"I meant it," She whispered and Ben looked at her with that softness she adored. "What I said this morning. I love you, Ben." It had taken several moments of severe pain that she did indeed love him, and that she had from the very start. She was just too stubborn to acknowledge it, and that was just like her to do so. 

"I know," He looked ready to collapse and Rey felt awful for having fucked up his sleeping schedule so bad, not to mention all the stress she had put upon him by simply just being in his life. "I think you're already aware of how much I love you." 

"It's so strange to feel this strongly about someone so soon...do--do you think the incompleted bond is ruining everything? Do you think it's...driving us insane?" She looked at him nervously and Ben gently shook his head. 

"Love can't make you insane, Rey--"

"Now that is a blatant lie, my dear," She snorted before burying his face in his chest and Ben closed his eyes once more as he held her. "Love can make you do the damndest things, and it can be highly dangerous in certain situations." 

"Not in this situation," He muttered softly and she found herself (stupidly) agreeing with him. "This is purely us and there's absolutely nothing wrong with our--"

"REY!" Rey jerked back from Ben as she heard Finn scream her name from downstairs, Rey's eyes going wide in both shock and terror. "REY, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE AND--"

"AND WHAT?!" Ben shouted and Rey jumped at him doing so. Had she ever heard him shout before? Had she ever heard him yell so angrily? She suddenly imagined a pair of fangs on him and she let out a small noise of surprise as her knees buckled slightly at the very thought. "What will you do, Finn?!"

"I'll tell you what I'll fucking do, _Solo_ ," Finn was already at the top of the stairs with a murderous look in his eyes and Rey instantly shielded Ben, hissing loudly at her progeny as her fangs popped out. Finn paused as a hurt expression came over his face and Ben wrapped his arms around Rey from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder as he glared at him. "...Rey, you're not thinking clearly. It's the bond, okay? You're really old so the bond is affecting you both so much more strongly than normal, you need to--"

"I am _not_ leaving him," She hissed loudly and Poe slowly came up the stairs from behind Finn with an extremely worried expression on his face. "You're not taking me from him!"

"Rey...please...why aren't you seeing that you're in extreme danger with him? Sweetpea, listen to us, please? We don't want to lose you," Poe spoke as he stood beside Finn, Rey hissing loudly once more as Ben held her tighter against him. "You'll die if you stay, Rey, you--"

"I told you I'm taking care of it. Do you not trust me?" Ben smiled but there was something extremely sinister in his eyes, as if his very smile was a threat. "Do you really think I'd let something happen to her?" 

"Ben, listen to me, as your friend for ten plus years--"

"Friends don't try to steal things from each other, Poe."

"Do--do you hear yourself, Ben?! The incompletion of the bond has made you into someone you're not! You're a good guy, Ben, come on. Tell me you don't feel like something is wrong, tell me you don't feel like--"

"Like we're going insane..." Rey breathed out as a moment of clarity ran over her and both Finn and Poe looked _extremely_ relieved that she was coming to her senses. "But I can't complete the bond yet, I'll hurt him, I'll--"

"You're hurting both of each other by not completing it, Rey." Finn spoke softly and Rey's face fell as the harsh truth of the situation set in. She slowly turned pulled away from Ben and turned around to face him, her face falling yet again as she the rage in his eyes. 

"...Ben, come with us--"

"What? You're actually entertaining the idea of leaving? Rey, I can protect you--"

"Not unless you plan to kill your uncle, Ben." Rey whispered and Ben instantly paused, Rey's face twisting in horror as she saw a look of consideration in his eyes. "B-Ben, no--"

"I told you I'd take care of you, that I'll protect you, why don't you believe me? I-I'm not lying, I can--"

"Ben...I ruined you..." Rey teared up and Ben's face fell as he felt like his entire world had shattered. Weren't they telling each other moments ago that they loved each other? Where had that moment gone? 

"No--no, no, no, Rey, you _fixed_ me, don't you get it? You came and made my world such a brighter place--"

"How could you call this situation 'bright', Ben...? I--I almost just hurt Finn and Poe because the bond isn't complete, I've hurt us both so, so much by not completing it...and I should've completed it back at my apartment. We're going insane, love. We're losing our minds and...and we can complete it at the beach house. We can run off, we can start a new life! W-we can go to safety, permanent safety, and no one will find us! Please say yes, Ben, please...please..." She whimpered as tears slid down her cheeks and Ben's expression softened as he wiped away her tears gently, not caring about getting blood on his hands (at this point, it had just become another common liquid to him). 

"Is this really what you want, Rey? Are you sure?"

"Y-yes...yes..." She pressed his hand against her cheek as she looked up at him pleasingly and he looked over at both Finn and Poe before giving them a single nod.

"Thank baby Christ, oh, my _God_ ," Poe groaned in a relieved tone as he ran his hand down his face and Finn sighed as if the world's biggest burden had been lifted from his shoulders. 

"We're going to go ahead of you, we'll see you at the beach house, alright? We already packed a bag for you, peanut." Finn was gone for a moment before seemingly reappearing with Rey's duffel bag and throwing it at her feet. "Start driving after you pack a bag, Ben, and...I would destroy your cellphone if I were you. We're completely going into hiding and there is a very big chance your family will try to find you."

"I'm on it, I got it," Ben rushed into his room and Rey chewed her lower lip nervously. 

\-----------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later and they were both in the car, Rey looking like a frazzled, nervous mess as he started up the engine.

"Do you still want to do this, Rey?" He asked as he looked over at her and she nodded furiously. 

"We have to, Ben. If your uncle catches me, he's going to kill me. I-I'm sorry you have to leave your family--"

"Don't ever apologize, Rey." He sighed as he backed out of the driveway and thus began their journey to California.

Little did they know that they would come across a situation much worse than the current one on the road.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am...genuinely so sorry about this--

Rey stepped out of the shower as she wrung her hair, sighing softly in content in the steam filled hotel bathroom. She had had to practically force Ben to stop at a hotel in Ohio, Ben swearing he could continue to drive but Rey knew better. He needed sleep, and she would _not_ have him ignore his basic human needs. She had had to pay with cash for the room for the night, having put it under the name "Mary Bandit" so no one could track them. 

She felt bad about having taken Ben from his life. She hated that, because he was with her, he had to leave both his family and job behind. She had apologized quietly for an entire hour on the road and he had had to finally pull over and tell her that he made this decision and that this was what he wanted. He wanted her, nothing else, and she had silently nodded in agreement. 

She wiped the steam from the mirror, listening closely to the quiet drone of the TV in the hotel room and the sound of Ben breathing steadily in his sleep. He had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow and she hadn't blamed him whatsoever, in fact she was _relieved_ that he was getting the sleep he so rightfully deserved. 

Her peaceful state was shattered by a sharp pain in her stomach and she gasped loudly as she gripped the sink tightly, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her jaw as she tried to keep her fangs from popping. Finn had packed her five blood bags in her duffel bag, but she had already drained three and they were doing jackshit for her. She needed to _eat_ and she had no way of going out and doing so because she was terrified that Luke had alerted other hunters about her. She hadn't been to Ohio in _years_ and she was extremely unfamiliar with the state enough as it is. 

She left the bathroom after hurriedly drying off, going over to the bed and sitting on it beside Ben's sleeping form after pulling on her pajamas. "Ben," She gently shook his shoulder and he groaned softly as he turned his head to bury his face in his pillow. "Ben, wake up," She gently shook his shoulder again and he groaned slightly louder. "Ben, please--"

"Baby, please..." He muttered tiredly into his pillow and Rey frowned as her shoulders slumped down. "Sleep..."

"I'm hungry..." She whispered and he instantly sat up with a sleepy yet alert expression (an odd and rare expression to see on a person). 

"You're hungry?" He inhaled deeply as he ran his hand through his hair and Rey nodded quickly with a look he could only describe as 'puppy dog eyes'. "Blood bags? What about the blood bags?" He was still drowsy and his body was screaming at him to go back to sleep, but he simply ignored it because Rey was much more important in his eyes.

"I already drained three...I need to save the other two..." She pouted as she looked down and played with a strand of her damp hair, Ben sighing and closing his eyes for a brief moment before opening them and silently nodding. 

"Mmn, okay," He sighed once again and Rey looked up at him with the same puppy dog eyes. "You want to go out and eat? Do you want me to come with you?"

"I'm too scared to...I'm scared your uncle has alerted other hunters about me, and I don't know how many hunters reside here in Ohio,"

"I wouldn't think any, this is such a non-vampire state. I mean, what kind of vampire lives in _Ohio_?"

"Um...ones who likes nature...?" She tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling as her pitch grew higher towards the end of her sentence, her tone one of confusion and uncertainty. "I don't know, there might be some vampires who live here?"

"...Look, it's almost five in the morning, so I think we should go out right now and go get you something to eat. Then we can come back here and you can sleep for the day, yeah? Then we'll get on the road the moment the sun sets." 

"Or...I could order 'room service'," She sucked in her breath as her eyes darted down and Ben deadpanned. Really? She really thought it was a good idea to _kill_ someone in their hotel room? "It would be easier _and_ quicker--"

"What about the cleanup, Rey?" 

"...There are dumpsters outside--"

"Rey," Ben's tone was stern and Rey groaned loudly in annoyance as she threw her head back. "You're not killing a hotel employee in our hotel room. Period."

"But it would be so _easy_!" She whined and he sucked in his breath before clenching his jaw. Was she _trying_ to get them caught? "Ben, please, I'm so hungry," She crawled into his lap and he bit his inner cheek as he looked into her vivid hazel eyes. There was so much _green_ in her eyes mixed with flecks of warm brown, like a nature themed kaleidoscope. "I can clean up, you don't have to do anything. I promise! I won't even be messy, I'll feed like a dainty little hummingbird!" 

"A hummingbird, huh?" He cracked a smile and she nodded quickly with a blinding smile, Ben exhaling loudly before resting his head against her shoulder. 

"Please, please, _please_ , I'm so hungry--"

"We can't, Rey. We can't risk being caught and having the front desk clerk describing us to the Ohio police. Luke and Holdo will definitely--"

"Holdo?" She cocked her head to the side with a confused expression and he pulled back to look at her.

"Luke's partner for the case. She's exceptionally good at her job, and with both her and Luke on the case...well, we won't stand a chance if they catch onto our trail. Do you understand?" He brushed her hair out of her face and she bit her lower lip before nodding. 

"I'm gonna go get some ice, okay? I need a drink and I seriously do not care if I have to pay fifteen dollars for the world's smallest bottle of Jack Daniel's." 

"Mmn, okay, but hurry back! I'll just have another blood bag, I'll be fine until tomorrow. Maybe I'll try animal blood for the first time, who knows!" Rey grinned as she got off of him and Ben chuckled as he climbed out of bed (the man had fallen asleep in his clothes, that's how exhausted he was). 

Ben was gone for fifteen minutes, and when he returned he dropped the ice bucket on the ground in horror. There was Rey, tearing into a hotel employee's throat on their bed. Crimson stained everything in sight around the bed (even on the _walls_ ) and Rey instantly looked up at him with wide eyes and blood dripping off her chin. "I-I'm sorry--"

"Fuck...okay, so much for being a 'dainty hummingbird'," He smacked his lips and put his hands on his hips as he looked up at the ceiling with a slightly mortified expression.

"B-Ben, he just knocked and I--"

"No, no, no. No, this is fine. Everything is great, Rey, this is fine. It's not like the bed is completely soaked in blood and there's a dead man on it--oh, wait, there is!" Ben laughed loudly as he panicked and Rey whimpered loudly as she looked down at her messy, sinful creation. Ben stood there for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts before nodding quickly and clapping his hands together which made Rey jump and look up at him. "Put him in the tub, Rey. We've got a lot of work to do."

"Wait, wha--"

"Tub, baby, put the...body in the tub." Ben cleared his throat as he pointed to the bathroom and Rey opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it when no words came out. 

"...Okay," She finally managed to speak as she got off the bed and threw the man's body over her shoulder like it was nothing, Ben biting back the urge to scream at the situation. He wasn't mad at Rey, of course, he was just mad about the entire ordeal. He wished Luke wasn't a hunter, that they were still at his house laughing downstairs in the kitchen and baking. He had wanted to make scones with her next, but it looks like that wouldn't be happening for a while. 

"I'm going to go to the store, alright? I need you to stay in the bathroom and lock the door until you feel my presence come back into the room, alright? Got it?"

"Mhm!" She nodded as she ran into the bathroom with the body and Ben sighed as she locked the door.

\-------------------------------------

In high school, Ben had taken a woodshop class for extra credit. He wasn't terribly bad at it, in fact, he had even made a jewelry box for his mother and a birdhouse for Luke's porch.

But teenager Ben would never have guessed that, when he was older, he would be using his woodshop skills on a human corpse.

There he sat on his knees by the tub with rubber gloves on and a saw in his hand, Rey sitting beside him and looking back and forth between him and the corpse with an apologetic expression. "...Are you sure you can go through with this, because I--"

"Yes," He shot out quickly and Rey slowly nodded while clicking her tongue. "Yes, I can do this."

"You won't throw up?"

"I've been at crime scenes worse than this, Rey--"

"Yeah, but you've never heard what cutting into bone sounds like." She frowned and Ben winced visibly at her words. She was right, she was completely right, and he prayed to God that he didn't throw up. 

"Y-yeah, well, I don't think most people have." He sucked in his breath and Rey gently rested his head against his shoulder.

"I can do this, Ben, you really don't have to--"

"I said I'd help you get rid of bodies, didn't I? So, I'm going to not go against my word and fulfill my promise." He leaned over the tub and placed the saw blade against numerous body parts before choosing the arm. The moment he started cutting, he gagged. The sound was _hellish_ and the amount of blood coming from the wound was obscene. It sounded gritty and wet, like something you'd hear from a splatter film. Ben basically felt like his life _was_ a splatter film at this point. "J-Jesus _Christ_ , you weren't wrong about the sound--"

"You have to saw harder to get through the bone, love. You gotta power through it, kind of like...a marathon. Except you don't go slow at first, you actually don't go slow at all, you have to be fast and harsh--"

"M-mhm," His voice cracked as the noise of sawing into human bone filled the bathroom, Ben stiffling _several_ gags as he cut. It was _horrific_. He never heard such a horrid noise in his life, nor did he think he would ever be chopping up a corpse like a serial killer in the first place. He felt like he was in some kind of TV show--American Horror Story. Yes, that's what reminded him of this.

"You're doing so good, look at that!" Rey clapped supportively and Ben let out another shaky "mhm" as the bone was fully cut through. "Look at that clean precision! Yay, go Ben--"

"As much as I love you supporting me and being my very own cheerleader from Hell, no offense, but I'm a _little_ distracted right now--"

"Oh, yeah, I totally get it," She nodded as she folded her hands in her lap, Ben glancing over at her before looking back at the now armless corpse. "And no offense taken." She smiled and he silently nodded as he started on the other arm. 

\-----------------------------------

An hour later and Rey was fast asleep in bed, Ben having had to strip off all the covers and shove them in a trash bag along with the numerous body parts. The bathroom was completely soaked in blood, and he was currently scrubbing everything down with bleach and heavy cleaning products. "If someone had told me a month ago that I'd fall in love with a vampire and be cleaning up her messes, I'd have laughed in their face," He sighed as he scrubbed the tub harder with furrowed brows. "Well, who's laughing now? ...Probably Satan." He sighed louder and he heard Rey snort loudly in her sleep at his words. "Oh, you think that's funny, huh? How about you come in here and help me if you think it's so funny?" He smirked when he heard silence and went back to scrubbing.

He didn't finish scrubbing down everything until around nine in the morning, plopping on the sheetless bed next to Rey after having showered.

"How many times have you cut up a body, Rey? Do I burn the parts?"

"Mhm..." She muttered in her sleep and he silently nodded as he stared up at the ceiling. "Love...you..." She sighed quietly and Ben looked over at her with soft eyes. He didn't know she could talk in her sleep, and hearing her say that she loved him in her most personal state was enough to make this whole situation worth it. Hell, he'd chop up a hundred more bodies if it meant hearing her say those three words to him. 

"I love you more, Rey," He turned over on his side to face her, pulling her close and resting his chin on top of her head as he closed his eyes. "So, so, _so_ much more than you could ever possibly imagine." 

\-----------------------------------

Ben woke up to Rey rummaging around in her duffel bag, his eyes slowly opening to only see pure darkness. "I burned the trash bags out in the woods already, we're good to go! You know you're really good at cleaning, right? I can't seem to find a smidge of blood positively anywhere!" Rey chirped happily and Ben slowly sat up with an exhausted expression.

"Aw, ha-ha, your hair is a mess," Rey laughed as she stopped rummaging through her duffel bag and Ben grunted in response before laying back down. "No, no, we gotta go--"

"Five more minutes, please..." He groaned loudly but his eyes snapped open as the harsh light of the bedside table lamp was switched on. 

"We have to try to get to Iowa today, Ben. Finn and Poe are probably already in California, they ran there--"

"They _ran_?"

"Duh," Rey snorted as she pulled her hair up in a messy bun. "It's what I would've done too if we could, but...you're a human, so you can't exactly run to a state across the the states in under an hour." She smiled and Ben paused. No, he wouldn't ask her about that now. This was not the time to ask "When are you going to turn me?". The _last_ thing he wanted was for Rey to feel even more panicked. He'd wait until the beach house because, after all, wouldn't the logical thing for her to do would be to turn him? They were life mates, after all.

"So...Iowa is our next stop? I don't think I've ever been to Iowa."

"Mhm," She started packing up everything in the room, Ben slowly getting off the bed and going to the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a quick shower. "Hurry up, it's already almost eight!" She called out to him and he hummed softly in response as he started up the shower. 

\---------------------------------------

"So he ran off, huh? I wouldn't have expected him to fall for a leech so quickly." Amilyn Holdo sighed as she looked around Ben's room, Luke standing in the doorway with a somber expression. "Do you think she's using her allure on him? Ben is a good kid, I don't think he'd--"

"No, she's not. I would've noticed it," Luke muttered and Amilyn looked over at him. "His eyes weren't glassy whatsoever. He looked perfectly normal to me."

"Well, _obviously_ he's not since he ran off with a female leech. How could he even do this to you, to his parents? Ben isn't selfish, Luke, something has to be going on."

"I have a sinking feeling of what the problem might be, but it's highly impossible. Life mates are one in a million, and I highly doubt that they are life mates. He'll come home soon, I'll bring him home. I just need to think of where they could possibly be going..." Luke sighed in annoyance and Amilyn caught something shining in the room's light in the corner. She instantly walked over to it, crouching down and picking up what was once Ben's phone. 

"Jesus...they really thought this out..." She murmured and Luke walked up behind her. "Look at this, it looked like he ripped it apart with his bare hands!"

"Not him, her." Luke glared down at the broken phone, slowly clenching his fists as anger took over him. How could Ben do this? How could he leave his life, his family behind for some--some _leech_? He should've trained Ben to be a hunter like he had wanted to, but Leia had instantly shut him down and yelled at him for even suggesting it when Ben was born. He had the gene, it just had to be ignited by training, and all of this could've been avoided if he had just convinced his twin sister it was for the better good. Now they were here, and he had lost his only nephew to a goddamn demon. "Bag it up, maybe we can try to pull the sim card out and try to--" Luke was interrupted by his phone ringing, he instantly answering it.

"Yes?"

" _She's been spotted in Ohio, sir. We saw her in the woods burning some trash bags_ \--"

"And you didn't kill her because _why_?"

" _She's an ancient, sir. We're not experienced enough to_ \--" Luke hung up the phone as he narrowed his eyes.

"What is it, Skywalker?" Amilyn raised a brow as she stood up and Luke clicked his tongue.

"Ohio, they were in Ohio." 

He was personally going to kill her himself.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND FINALLY SMUT
> 
> Also, I finally made a tumblr! My username is @drownedoutstars   
> I'll be posting updates about all my fics and probably reblog a lot of aesthetic posts (I'm an aesthetic nerd)

Ben drove down a back road with Rey's head in his lap, the brunette humming quietly as she looked up at the night sky. He had put the roof down per her request, and earlier she had told him stories of each constellation. She was so excited when she was talking, pointing at each constellation with a smile and going on about each individual one for at least twenty minutes. He had smiled the entire time, happily listening to her talk.

It had been two days on the road now since Ohio, and after this last hotel stop, they'd finally be in California. 

"I'm glad that you've been in a much happier mood since we left New York," Ben smiled and Rey blinked before snorting quietly and looking up at him.

"Of course I'm happy, we're starting a new life together. We'll be beach bums!" 

"Ha-ha, I'm not entirely sure about that," He laughed and Rey bit her lower lip with a jaw aching grin. "I'm not really one for sand."

"Oh, no, me either! But there are lots of lovely places in California. You're going to love the beach house, I decorated it," She preened as she wiggled her shoulders slightly and Ben barked out a laugh. 

"Why am I not surprised?" He chuckled as he gently ran his fingers through her hair, his other hand on the wheel. "Let me guess, the walls are painted green?"

"Ooh, so close!" Rey sucked her teeth and Ben laughed once more. "They're light blue with white accents, I wanted the house to have proper beach vibes." 

"Proper beach vibes, huh? Don't tell you put seashells everywhere,"

"And what the hell is wrong with seashells, Ben? I think they're neat _and_ highly decorative!" Rey pouted and Ben couldn't stop smiling. This was what love was, this was what he had been missing out his entire life on. He didn't care that he had left behind everything at this point, all that mattered was that she was here and they were together. 

"You got bottles of sand too?"

"No!" Rey continued to pout as she turned her head and Ben rolled his eyes with a smile. "...Okay, maybe, but it's colored sand...how much longer do we have until the nearest hotel? It's almost four in the morning," Rey sat up and Ben wished she hadn't. He loved having her extremely close to her, he loved having her lay on him. 

"Fifteen minutes or so I'm assuming, I think I saw a sign back there,"

"What's even famous in Iowa?"

"Hmm...I believe nature parks. Like for hiking." Ben shrugged and suddenly Rey's eyes lit up excitedly. 

"Hiking? I love hiking! God, I wish we could stay for a little while longer..." She crossed her arms with a huff as she leaned back against the seat with yet another pouty expression. "S'dumb we're being hunted..." 

"Seatbelt--"

"Hmm?"

"Seatbelt, Rey, put on your seatbelt," Ben sighed softly and Rey paused before entertaining his suggestion and clicking her seatbelt. "Thank you."

"Even if we did get in a car crash, I wouldn't die. Well--well, unless I was decapitated or a piece of metal goes into my heart or--"

"Let's not talk about death," Ben tensed up at the thought of a dead Rey and the very thought alone made him want to scream. How could she talk about herself dying so calmly? 

"Ben?" Rey gently put her hand on Ben's arm with a concerned expression. He was gripping the steering wheel tightly with a frightened, far off look in his eyes. "Ben, it's okay. You're an exceptionally good driver, you're not going to crash--"

"Please drop it," Ben sucked in his breath loudly and Rey instantly nodded as she sat back. 

"So...um...I think it'll take maybe ten more hours until we get to California? If we keep taking backroads we can speed and we'll get there faster. Maybe I can sleep in the trunk and you can drive during the day so we can get there faster! You can put on the cassette I stole--"

"Wait, wait, wait," Ben blinked and shook his head once with a confused expression. "When did you _steal_ a cassette tape?"

"When you stopped at that gas station about fifty miles back, there was an old music store about three blocks away. I ran in there and stole an old Billy Idol cassette so we can--"

"You literally stole a cassette tape when you have rolls of money in your duffle bag?"

"...Yes?" Rey smiled apologetically and Ben pressed his lips together tightly before smacking his lips and nodding. Of course she would steal a cassette tape, what did he expect? "It's got White Wedding on it..." She pulled the cassette out from her hoodie pocket and Ben glanced down at it before looking back at the road. "And Rebel Yell and Eyes Without a Face, it's all his greatest hits! Back in the eighties, I genuinely wanted to dye my hair his exact color. You know, that whitish blonde?"

"I'm glad you can't dye your hair because that would've been awful--"

"Hey!" She gasped and Ben found himself relaxing and smiling again. "It would _not_ have been awful for that certain period of time!" 

"I'm not really into blondes, I prefer brunettes." His tone was smug and Rey wanted to playfully whack him upside the head.

"Well, aren't you lucky then?" Rey smirked over at him and he winked at her with a grin. 

\---------------------------------------

"I'm gonna go out for a moment, okay? The sun will be rising in about an hour or so." Ben pulled on his shoes by the front door about an hour later and Rey hummed while nodding, the brunette flipping through the TV channels with a sleepy expression. She was laying on her stomach on the bed with her feet up in the air as she rested her bodyweight on her elbows, her hair damp from the shower she took thirty minutes ago.

"You going to go get ice?"

"You know me so well," Ben chuckled and Rey bit her lower lip with a smile as she glanced over at him. "Keep the door locked, yeah?"

"Roger, roger!" She gave him a salute with a wink and Ben snorted softly in amusement before going out the door and closing it behind him. It was more of a motel than a hotel, but Rey had persisted in staying there because it heavily reminded her of the fifties and she wanted to bask in the nostalgia. He walked to the small freezer storage unit in the hallway outside, Ben sighing as he opened it up only to pause as he heard a gun click behind him.

"Hey, Ben," Amilyn smiled and Ben's face instantly fell as he slowly looked over his shoulder. "This is a pretty cute motel, I'm not gonna lie, but it's not your taste. I'm guessing it was her idea to stop here?" The gun was pointed directly at his head and he clenched his jaw tightly as rage began to bloom within him. "You fucked her yet?"

"Is that any of your business?" Ben snapped and Amilyn laughed quietly as she shrugged. "I suggest you--"

"Suggest I what, Ben? Leave? No, I can't do that. Luke is a state behind, he decided to sleep in. Me, on the other hand, wanted to personally deliver both you and your demonic whore of a leech to him--"

"Her name is _Rey_ ," He hissed out and Amilyn only grinned in response. Amilyn Holdo was notoriously known for going against the rules, for killing people she shouldn't, and Ben wouldn't be surprised if she killed him right here and blamed it on Rey. I mean, after all, she did have a gun pointed at his head. If it was a scare tactic, it was a hell of a disturbing one. "And she and I aren't going anywhere."

"No? Shame..." Amilyn sarcastically pouted as she placed her finger over the trigger and Ben glared angrily at her. "I really liked you, Ben. I always thought you were a super sweet kid with a bright future ahead of you. But you turned out to be a little stupid, huh? You honestly thought you wouldn't caught? You really thought you could just run off with a leech and think we wouldn't find you? Do you think we're stupid, Ben?" 

"...I was kind of hoping you were, yeah," He slowly turned around, slowly putting his hands in the air as he angrily glared at her. "So is all of the FBI hunters?"

"That's classified," She smirked and Ben bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he slowly smiled as Amilyn's face twisted in horror as a single drop of blood fell from his lips onto the ground. "Ben, what have you--"

"You're Holdo? Oh, wow, I love your hair." Rey was behind Holdo in less than a second, Amilyn's eyes widening as her grip on the gun loosened. "Did you have to bleach it first to get that dazzling lavender color? Oh, what am I saying, of course you did!"

"Hello, Rey...I've heard a lot about you--"

"From who?" Rey smiled but Ben could see the rage in her eyes, the underlying demonic hunger that was secretly always there. "Luke? Other hunters? I wonder, do you guys have a file on me? Did Anakin make it?"

"You knew--"

"Oh, no," Rey laughed loudly and Ben couldn't stop himself from grinning like a mad man. Why was this suddenly fun? "No, no, I didn't personally know him, but I...almost ran into him once, you could say." Rey sighed as she shrugged and Amilyn stared at Ben. There was a pleading look in her eyes, one of immense fear and the knowledge of knowing she would die right here. "Anyways, did you do that to his lip? You hurt him?"

"N-no--"

"Mmn, wrong answer," Rey violently kicked the back of Amilyn's right knee as Ben took the gun from the older woman's hand, Amilyn crying out loudly as she fell to the ground. "Ben, go inside, okay? I'll only be a moment, love!"

"Take your time, baby," Ben gently kissed her and Amilyn stared up at them in horror. "I love you."

"I love you more," Rey smiled softly before reaching down and grabbing a fistful of Amilyn's hair, the older woman crying out yet again. "Can you start the bath for me? I have a feeling I'm going to get all messy again. I think I saw some bubble bath in there, but if not just use shampoo. It'll still make bubbles--"

"B-Ben, this isn't you!" Amilyn choked out but Ben ignored her as he continued to smile at Rey with a loving look in his eyes. "Ben, _please_ , help--"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Holdo," Ben smiled down at her and Amilyn stared up at him with the same pleading eyes. "Of course I'm me, who else would I be?"

"No, she's--"

"Shh, little miss lavender, it'll all be over soon." Rey cooed as she started dragging her off, Ben turning on his heel as Amilyn tried to scream out to him. He didn't even flinch when he heard Rey practically snap her jaw off. 

Ten minutes later and Rey came back into the motel room with her complete upper body soaked in blood, Ben looking over at her with a soft smile. "Everything went okay?"

"Yeah, of course! I made sure to get rid of her body, no one saw--do I smell patchouli?" Rey gasped as she ran into the bathroom and Ben grinned as he heard her squeal in delight. "Ben, did you get me bubble bath?"

"I wish I could take the credit for it, but I found it at the very bottom of your duffel bag with a sticky note on it. I believe the sticky note said something along the lines of 'you're gonna get too stressed at one point and you're going to complain about wanting a bubble bath, so here you go'."

"Aw, Finn knows me so well," Rey chirped as she started stripping, Ben getting up from the bed and starting towards the bathroom before pausing. "Why'd you stop? You can come in," He could hear the gentle smile in her tone, practically see the softness in her eyes. "I won't bite." 

"What if I want you to?" He didn't know why he said it, he didn't even know why he even thought it, and he heard Rey grow completely silent. 

"...H-ha-ha, you're so funny, Ben..." Rey spoke shakily as she got into the tub, her hands trembling as she did so. "I didn't think you were a comedian--"

"Rey--Rey," Ben walked into the bathroom and Rey looked up at him with panic in her eyes. "It's...isn't it inevitable?"

"You really want to talk about this...right now? After I just killed Holdo and I'm covered in blood--"

"You're almost always covered in blood, Rey--"

"That--that is not the point!" Rey snapped and Ben slowly walked over, sitting in front of the tub and resting his arms on the ledge. 

"I was going to wait until the beach house to ask you, but my brain decided, without me, to blurt that out, so...I guess we're talking about it now." Ben inhaled deeply and Rey sighed as she looked down. "I mean, we _have_ to talk about it eventually, Rey,"

"But I like your warmth...and I don't want to accidentally kill you...I happen to love you, Ben, and it would positively suck if I killed you..." Rey muttered quietly and Ben gently tilted her chin up to look at him. "I just want to enjoy you as a human right now, is that too much to ask for?" She whispered and Ben sighed as he shook his head.

"No, it's not. I get it, baby, but I just--"

"I'm not letting you die, Ben. Ever." Rey stated bluntly and Ben couldn't help but smile. "But I want you human for just a little bit longer. Maybe a year? Two years? Three, four? Five? Six--"

"Please stop counting upwards," Ben cleared his throat and Rey quickly nodded before looking down and scooping up some bubbles into her hands. "Rey, what are you--"

"Bubble kisses!" Rey grinned before blowing the bubbles at him and Ben blinked as the bubbles hit his chest. Ben looked down at the bubbles on his shirt before looking back up at her and Rey squeaked quietly in an excited tone as she pressed her back against the tub. 

"Is that an invitation to join you?" 

"Oh, God, I wish...but I think this tub is a little too--Ben!" Rey squeaked again as he stood up and started getting undressed, Rey slowly sinking down with wide eyes as she watched him. "B-Ben, hang on--"

"Hmm? What?" Ben grinned as he pulled off his shirt and Rey instantly pulled the plug on the tub before standing up, Ben pausing in confusion. 

"I think--I think a shower would be better, yeah?" Rey spoke softly and Ben's eyes lit up. "Lots of more room, I think,"

"Oh, yeah, no, totally," Ben agreed and Rey turned the shower on, gasping loudly as freezing cold water blasted all over her. 

"F-fucking Christ!" She gasped again as she stepped back and wiped her eyes, Ben laughing as he unbuckled his belt. "Don't you dare laugh, I just got blasted by bloody glacier water! I feel like Antarctica itself just defiled me!"

"Should I be jealous of Antarctica then?" Ben smirked and Rey glared at him while huffing loudly. "Come on, lighten up--"

"Alright then, how about you get blasted in the face with freezing cold water?" Rey scowled before completely freezing in place as Ben pulled off his pants and boxers. "Oh..." Was all she could muster out and Ben looked up at her.

"What?"

"How--how can you walk?" Rey's eyes flicked up to his and he opened his mouth to speak before shutting it with a shocked expression. "What is that? I--nine inches?"

"...I've never measured--"

"Really? I thought that was a thing guys did?" She cocked her head and Ben could feel his cheeks burning. He didn't really think this through, and he knew that showering with her could very possibly lead to _heavy_ intimacy, and he didn't want to force anything upon her. She wanted to go slow, and there he was nude standing before her. 

"...Are you getting--"

"This is okay, right? We're still taking it slow?"

"...Um," Rey bit her lower lip as she put her hands on her hips, looking up to the ceiling as she thought. Was this okay? This had to be okay at this point, and she could control herself. It's not like she was imagining her pressed against the tiled wall with him buried to the hilt deep within her. No, no, this was fine. She could do this. "Yeah," She spoke slowly while nodding. "Yeah, this is okay." She looked back down at Ben and Ben stepped into the shower, closing the shower curtain behind him.

"Oh, shit, you were right, this water is freezing!" Ben jerked back from the water and Rey giggled quietly as she turned the hot water knob more to the left to get the heat going. 

"Do you want to wash your hair first? I can move--"

"No, no, I think you should go first. I mean, you got...all that blood--"

"Oh! Oh, yeah, I forgot!" Rey laughed and Ben instantly smiled. Her laughter could cure anything in the entire world, he decided. It was pure joy, the sound of sheer happiness, and he wished he could have a recording of it. But then again, he didn't need one. She was right here, she would always be right here. "I'll just wash it quickly, I won't take long--"

"No, take your time. I'm fine here," He leaned against the tiled wall slightly and Rey paused for a moment before beginning to wash her hair. She stood there washing her hair for five minutes without breaking eye contact with him, his eyes glued on hers as he stayed completely still. "You're gonna get soap in your eyes if you don't close your eyes." He smirked and she huffed in annoyance at the truth of his words. She slowly closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the running water combined with his steady--no, his heartbeat wasn't steady. It was quickened, it was picking up slowly but surely.

"...Whatever," She muttered and she felt him gently touch her hip as he stepped closer to her, his thumb rubbing slow circles into her skin. "What are you--"

"I'm admiring you, is that wrong?" He asked quietly and she slowly opened her eyes, tilting her head back forward to look at him. The amount of raw emotions she felt for this man, for this _human_ , was catastrophic. Being here, standing before him, was like being in the eye of the neverending hurricane that was her life. She had killed someone he knew, someone she guessed he was slightly close with based on their interaction, and yet here he was. Here he was staring at her like she was his very reason for existing.

"...Will you stop me if I try to bite you?" She whispered and his eyes flicked up to hers, his brows furrowing slightly. "Ben, it will _hurt_. It's not like the movies, it's--we don't bite, we _tear_." She swallowed thickly and Ben slowly nodded in understanding. 

"Yes," He smiled and Rey pressed herself closely against him, standing on her tippy toes as she threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, I'll stop you, but why are you asking?"

"...Ben, I--I wanna fuck," Rey blinked and Ben choked on his own spit before clearing his throat and nodding quickly. 

"You want to complete the bond--"

"I mean...yeah," Rey bit her lower lip as she glanced away. "Don't you? Our emotions will be in tact again, I won't be so ravenous, and I think it's time we do anyways...don't you?" She looked back at him and Ben nodded again while staying silent. He had no words for this moment, not even really knowing how to process it fully, and Rey looked at him expectantly. "Ben--"

"I love you," Ben shot out and Rey blinked a few times in shock at the suddenness of it. "I love you and--and you're sure? You're sure you're sure?"

"I mean, I _am_ telling you I'm sure, I'm not sure why you're--"

"Because I don't ever want to do something that you're not absolutely positive about," Ben wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him, and Rey's expression softened. 

"Oh, Ben," She spoke softly as she put her hand on his cheek, a smile painting her lips. "You're adorable, you know that? You actually think I'd ever ask you to do something I wasn't one hundred percent positive about?" 

"...No, I don't," Ben replied slowly and Rey nodded with a smile. "But I still want to make sure--"

"Shh, shut up," Rey purred before kissing him feverishly, Ben instantly melting into the kiss as his hands explored further down. She was still freezing, and it was slightly uncomfortable, but at this point, Ben couldn't care less. All the blood from her skin and hair was gone, leaving behind silky tresses and soft (freezing) skin. "Just fuck me already, Ben." Rey purred louder and Ben instantly picked her up, Rey letting out a surprised gasp as she wrapped his legs around his waist and gripped his shoulders tightly. 

"Do we need a--"

"I'm dead, Ben. Can the dead get pregnant?" Rey deadpanned as she answered his question before he could fully even get it out. "And can the dead get STDs? No."

"I'm not a fucking vampire doctor, I don't know any of this," Ben scowled as he pressed her up against the wall, Rey biting her lower lip with a smile as she shrugged playfully. "Besides, they teach us humans to have safe sex."

"I can assure you sex with me will not be safe," Rey smirked and Ben paused for a moment. "...Because I bite, Ben, will you--will you just-- _fuck_!" Rey gasped loudly as she felt him thrust a finger up into her, the brunette jumping and letting out a shaky breath as she hit her head against the tile wall.

"Rey, are you--"

"Goddammit, Ben, I'm not made of glass!" Rey snapped and Ben clicked his tongue as he curled his finger upwards within her, Rey letting out a small cry as he hit her bundle of nerves spot on.

"You've got an awfully big mouth on you, you know that? You're constantly mouthing off, being sarcastic and snarky. But look at you, you're barely holding yourself together and I'm only finger fucking you. Would you like to get out all the smart alec talk now before I even start? Because I'd rather have you just screaming than being a smart ass." Ben smirked and Rey attempted to scowl at him but cried out once more as he thrusted his finger upwards once more. He was teasing her, and for the first time in Rey's existence, she couldn't tease someone back. 

"...I-I'm good," She mustered out with a look that Ben could only describe as 'a deer in the headlights'. It was rather cute to see her practically speechless. 

"Yeah? You sure?" He leered at her as he gently kissed her jaw, Rey practically melting against him as she let out a loud mewl followed by excessive purring. She really did remind him of a cat now that he thought about it. 

"B-Ben, stop teasing me!" She whined loudly as she bucked her hips upwards and Ben pulled back to look at her with a devious glint in his eyes. 

"For someone who has all the time in the world, you're rather impatient, you know that? You're gonna have to be--"

"Fuck me _now_." Rey growled loudly in an inhuman hiss like tone and Ben froze for a moment before quickly nodding. Teasing _might_ not be such a good idea when it comes to vampires. 

"I'm trying to prepare you--"

"Do I _look_ like I need preparing, Ben?" She narrowed her eyes and Ben slowly removed his hand from her lower region. "You could literally fuck me into the wall, and by that I mean _literally_ into the wall, and I would still--FUCK!" She cried out loudly as he thrust into her without warning, Rey clinging to him tightly as her fangs involuntarily popped. Sweet baby Jesus on Mars, she was not expecting that of all things. 

"Are you--"

"I swear to Christ if you ask me if I'm okay one more time, Benjamin," She breathed shakily and Ben gave her a strange look at her using the formal version of his name before gripping her ass tightly and lifting her up ever so slightly only to bring her back down on his cock roughly. They both moaned at that, Rey throwing her head back against the wall with her mouth open. Her fangs looked sharper than ever, and he was morbidly curious to see if they could extend further as he pounded up into her relentlessly. 

"F-fuck, _Rey_ ," Ben groaned out as he buried his face in her neck, Rey making a string of loud, high pitched noises with her eyes squeezed shut. She had never felt this full in her life, she had never even experienced sex like this before. His scent cocooned itself around her and her instincts screamed at her to sink her fangs into him, but she screamed back at them that he was more than a victim. This was _Ben_ , this was her very own personal sun, and she hated that she couldn't take a rest against fighting her instincts for one second as he continued to thrust up into her mercilessly.

She was sure that the other people at the motel, if there were any, that they could hear her, but she couldn't care less. Her body was practically vibrating, her cunt clenching tightly around him as she felt her breaking point close to crashing. Each time he slammed into her he was hitting that bundle of nerves deep within spot on each time, like he knew exactly where it was and was purposely hitting it right on the nose every rough thrust. 

It was honestly his small moans and groans that were adding to the whole of it all. She could distinctly make out her name and several 'I love you''s spilling from his mouth, his breath hot on her neck. It was too much. It was way too much and Rey felt like she was going to spontaneously combust at any moment, like she'd burst into flames and become nothing but ash in his arms. 

She's shaking, she's shaking so much, and she let's out a garbled scream as she spasms violently around him as she cums exceptionally hard on his cock. Ben let out a surprised cry at how hard she clenched around him, the man's hips speeding up erratically before pressing her hips tightly against hers and releasing his hot seed deep within. Rey let's out a shaky whine at the sensation of it, her eyes fluttering closed as she goes limp.

She had done it. She had completed the bond with him without biting him, and she felt so overwhelmed with joy that she couldn't help but let out a few tears of relief. "B-Ben..." She let out a hoarse sob as she smiled, Ben gently kissing her tears away before nuzzling her neck sweetly. 

"You did so well, baby, I'm so proud of you," He spoke breathlessly against her skin and Rey felt like sobbing. Praise, he was giving her praise. He was giving her something she had longed for for centuries without even realizing it until this very moment. "See? I knew you could do it without hurting me, you were perfect. Fuck, you're perfect," Ben sighed happily and Rey slowly opened her eyes to look at the shower curtain with a pleased expression. 

\-------------------------------------------

Thirty minutes later and they were in bed, Rey curled up beside him with her head on his chest as she purred loudly with her eyes closed. Both of their emotional states had calmed down drastically after the bond was completed, and Ben felt like he could breathe again. Sure, all he could of was her still, but the need to tear anything apart that looked at her had quickly faded.

But not towards Luke. That was the one fear that hadn't melted away, the one problem that continued to make him want to scream. 

"I think I might fall asleep early, I'm just so comfortable," Rey hummed and Ben snapped out of his thoughts to wrap an arm around her and pull her closer against him. "Can you turn on the telly and put the volume on low?" Rey snuggled into him and Ben let out a soft hum as he grabbed the remote off of the bedside table. He flipped on the TV, only for the remote to fall from his hands as a look of horror came on his face.

"Ben?" Rey sat up, looking at him with a worried expression. "Ben, love, what's the--" He turned her face towards the television, Rey's heart sinking into her stomach as she looked at the screen.

There was Police Chief Leia Organa along with her husband Han Solo, and they were both talking about how their son was _taken_ by a notorious _serial killer_. 

"Shit." Both of them breathed out in unison as a picture of Ben was being showed. " _Shit._ "


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just a fluffy filler, I promise there will be more action in chapter fifteen! I'm thinking this story might have twenty chapters? I'm not sure, we'll see, haha ^^

"O-okay," Rey took a deep breath (to which she almost choked at the sensation) as she paced in front of the bed, tugging at her hair as she did so. Ben had instantly turned off the TV the moment his photo was shown, and they were both panicking. "Okay, okay, okay, we--we can...um--"

"Rey, this is _fucked_!" Ben practically shouted and Rey pounced on him, covering his mouth with her hand as his head hit the pillow harshly.

"Don't _shout_ ," She hissed out and Ben looked up at her with wide eyes. "I don't need anyone coming to the door at nearly sunrise to check on why you're shouting."

"If there was anyone here, they'd have come when you were screaming in the shower." He muttered out into her hand, his voice muffled. She hissed loudly before glaring angrily over at the door. He was right, but she still had to make sure. She couldn't have anyone try and take him, especially now with the bond being completed. If they were to be separated...well, let's just say Rey's old ways from the olden days would resurface.

"I can't take the risk," Her eyes flicked back to him and he gently grabbed her wrist, pressing a soft kiss to her palm before pulling her hand away from his mouth. 

"You're mine now, do you understand that?" She narrowed her eyes and Ben nearly melted into the bed. _Hers_ , a voice cooed within him. _Only hers._

"Of course," He smiled dreamily and Rey nodded once while blowing air of her nose sharply, the vampire sitting on her knees as she looked around the room with rage filled eyes. The bond was supposed to have calmed down since they completed it, but she found it to be even _stronger_. Was it because she saw him as being threatened? Was that it? That had to be it.

"We have to leave Falcon here, they're looking for that car. We need to go now--"

"Now? But it's almost sunrise--"

"I will sleep in the fucking trunk!" Rey snapped before pausing as she saw him flinch at her tone. "Oh, no, darling, I'm not mad at you," Rey cooed softly as she caressed his cheek, Ben leaning into her touch as his body relaxed. "I'm mad at your family for thinking that you're still theirs. You're mine now, not theirs." 

This was the dangerous part about bonding, and it was even more severely dangerous because she was so old. Before the bond, in the beginning, she didn't want to get close to him. But now, she never wanted him to leave her sight. He was hers, she was his, and she throughly looked forward to ripping Luke Skywalker in half for threatening to take away her life mate. 

"It'll be okay, we'll escape them--"

"I can't see," Rey squeezed her eyes shut as red began to cloud her vision, her chest heaving as her fangs popped. _Kill. Kill them all. Rip them apart, make them scream. Turn him. Turn him now._ "N-no, please--" Rey choked out and Ben looked up at her with a frightened expression. He had no clue what was going on with her in that moment--until it hit him. Swirls of red, the distant sound of screaming, and the feeling of uncontrollable rage quickly consumed him. This--this was what she was feeling? This hatred? This rage?

"R-Rey, it's okay--"

"Get dressed," Rey's eyes snapped open to reveal her pupils fine slits, her fangs glinting down at him. "We're not driving anymore, it's a short enough distance to carry you."

"Carry--carry me?" Ben blinked and Rey got off the bed as she forced her fangs to retract, clothes seemingly appearing on her body and the suitcases also seemingly packed by themselves. He guessed his human eyes couldn't comprehend her inhuman speed. "Rey, what are you--"

"I will have Finn come and get everything after we reach there safely, get dressed. Now." She threw his clothes at him and he sat there for a moment as tried to wrap his head around the whole situation. He had never seen her this angry, this driven to do something, and with everything going on, it was truly a lot. 

"Rey, it's ten minutes until sunrise--"

"It'll only take me five to get there," She huffed loudly and Ben furrowed his brows in worry. "Maybe three." 

He didn't want her getting hurt, he didn't want her to not make it in time and--no, he didn't want to think about her dying. 

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise," Rey sat on the end of the bed and Ben got out of bed, getting dressed hurriedly as she watched. He wanted to stay here, he wanted to be one hundred percent sure she would be safe from the sun (which she would be if they slept here), but he understood why they had to leave. Other hunters could come in during the day as they slept, they could--he still didn't want to think of her dying. 

"Okay," He sighed as he finished getting dressed, Rey standing up and going over to him. "Let's--"

"I can feel your warmth everywhere, you know that?" She whispered as she placed her hand over his heart, his expression softening as he placed his hand over hers. "You're just this brilliant sun--"

"I'm _your_ sun," He cut her off and a pleased noise escaped her lips as she instantly smiled. "Come on, let's go."

\-----------------------------------

He awoke around the mid afternoon, Rey curled up beside him the king sized navy blue bed. She had made it there in under three minutes before sunrise, and he had had to cough and gasp for a good minute when they had gotten to the beach house.

It had felt like all of the air had been vacuumed from his lungs, and Rey had continously apologized and had even offered mouth to mouth if he needed it. 

But now it was mid afternoon, and everyone in the beach house besides him was fast asleep. He looked down at her sleeping form, gently brushing the hair from her eyes as he inhaled quietly. He didn't want to get up, he tried to will himself to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. He couldn't go back to sleep even if he tried, and he carefully got out of bed. 

He looked at her one last time before going into the bathroom and turning on the shower. He slowly undressed, Amilyn's pleading eyes flashing in his mind as he looked in the mirror.

It's not that he felt guilty (she had been trying to take him from Rey), but...he did feel slightly disturbed. She had been pleading for her life silently with just her eyes, and all he had done was smile. 

He shook it off, getting in the shower and letting the water wash away his worries. He tried to focus on the heat of the shower, closing his eyes as he focused all of his thoughts on Rey.

Rey, his life mate. Rey, his everything. Rey, his very reason for living now. His light, his love, his very own little personal moon. He couldn't let anyone hurt her, he couldn't let Luke kill--

He breathed shakily as he ran his hands through his hair, tugging on his hair slightly as he opened his eyes. This was his life now. His life was with Rey, his life was _protecting_ Rey, and he wouldn't have it any other way. But...but the _fear_ of _losing_ her was eating him alive. He's too slow as a human, he can't protect her like this. He needed her to--

"Ben..." He heard his name being whispered from outside the bathroom door and he instantly froze, recognizing her voice immediately. 

"Baby, what are you--"

"Warmth..." She whispered again and he sighed softly as he washed out the remaining shampoo and conditioner in his hair.

"I'll be back in a moment, okay? Go back to sleep, you're going to hurt yourself if you stay awake."

"Warmth..." She whispered again and he turned off the shower, getting out and drying himself off with a towel. "Ben...warmth..." 

He wrapped the towel around his waist and quickly opened the door, Rey standing there with half lidded eyes and an extremely sleepy expression on her face. She smiled as he opened the door, a small sound of pure happiness leaving her lips as she tiredly lifted her arms up.

"Wha--"

"Hold," She cooed and Ben's cheeks burned bright red at her request. She heavily reminded him of a child in her half asleep state, her eyes glittering with pure delight as she stared up at him.

"I--yeah, okay, come on," He picked her up and she squealed quietly in delight as she wrapped her legs around his waist, hugging his neck weakly as she rested her head against his shoulder. He felt her go limp in his arms, her body going still as she instantly fell asleep. "Rey?" He whispered and she hummed quietly in her sleep to let him know that she was okay, Ben sighing in relief as he walked back over to the bed.

He tried to lay her back down but found that her grip tightened on him, Ben blinking as he tried to lay her down once more. She let out a quiet hiss in a displeased tone and he bit back a smile. "What are you, a koala? Come on, I'm getting in right next to you. I'm not going anywhere."

She let him lay her down on the third try, Ben taking off the towel around his waist and going over to his suitcase that lay on the floor by the door (Finn had instantly gone and gotten the suitcases once they had arrived).

He pulled on his flannel pajama bottoms before going back over to the bed and crawling in beside her, holding her closely against him from behind as she began to purr loudly in her sleep. 

"You really are just a humanoid cat, aren't you?" Ben asked quietly and Rey pushed back against him as she only purred louder. "I'll take that as a yes." He chuckled and Rey mewled softly as he closed his eyes.

This time, he was able to fall back asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, okay, I'm dreading writing the next chapter because I know it's going to hurt me--  
> But did y'all know that fact about Octopus's Garden? I love that writing this fic lead to me researching and finding that fact 😂

Rey slowly stirred, letting out a small mewl as she felt Ben's arm gently pull her closer. "Mornin'," She sighed happily and he hummed quietly as he buried his face in her hair.

"Good evening," He muttered out and Rey snorted quietly as she rolled her eyes playfully. "You sleep okay?"

"Mhm, I slept great! I didn't like you leaving though--"

"What were you thinking getting up and walking to the bathroom? You were in pain, weren't you?"

"I--" She froze as she suddenly realized she hadn't felt a lick of pain when she had gotten up to retrieve Ben from the bathroom. If anything, she had just felt annoyed when his warmth had left her. "...No, it didn't hurt." She whispered and he furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Shouldn't it have hurt...?"

"Yeah, but--I was more focused on you," Rey flipped over to face him and Ben slowly smiled. "I guess it doesn't hurt to be awake for a minute if you're with me. I'll have to ask Finn if he's ever experienced that with Poe."

"Mmn, that's a good idea." He mumbled as he closed his eyes again and Rey pouted as he did so, the vampire gently pushing his shoulder.

"No, it's time to get up--"

"Five more minutes," He groaned and Rey continued to pout. She suddenly smirked as a devious look entered her eyes, Ben slowly opening his eyes to see that she was gone.

"Rey? Where are--" He was cut off by the covers being completely yanked off the bed, Rey pouncing on him with a feral grin to which he yelped loudly. 

"Are you awake yet?" She continued to grin and he groaned loudly as he threw his head back, throwing his arm over his eyes. Yes, he was _more_ than awake now. "If you say no, I can always pour cold water on you--"

"I will actually lock you in a closet," Ben muttered jokingly as a small smile crept up on his lips and Rey pretended to gasp in a hurt manner. 

"How dare you!" She gasped again as she placed her hand over her heart and Ben erupted into loud laughter. "I'll have you know that I'm _very_ claustrophobic and what you have just said deeply offends me!"

"Oh, my sincerest apologies, madam! Would you prefer the attic instead?"

"You wound me!" Rey sighed dramatically as she laid on top of him and he uncovered his eyes to see Rey smiling happily at him. "To think you think of me with the mothballs, how utterly disgraceful and--"

"I love you," Ben cut her off and Rey's expression instantly softened. "Rey, I love you so much. You know that, right?"

"Mmn, I think so," She winked and Ben smiled so widely that his jaw ached. "Why don't you tell me one more time so I know for certain?"

"I love you," He flipped them over so he was on top of her, Rey gasping for real this time as she stared up at him. "I love you," He gently kissed her jaw, Rey purring quietly as her eyes fluttered closed. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Rey opened her eyes as she felt him lift up her shirt, her breasts being exposed to the cool air of the room as he kissed down her chest to her stomach. "Ben," She breathed out as he pulled off her pajama bottoms, Ben looking up at her through his dark lashes. She opened her mouth to tell him that Finn and Poe were both awake and could most certainly hear them, but she instantly closed it to keep that information to herself. She thought of this as payback for all the times she had to hear them being loud as hell in Finn's room back at the apartment.

"What?" His voice was lower than normal, a certain seductiveness laying deep within his tone, and Rey bit her lower lip as she just stared back at him. He smirked as he came back up, gently thumbing her clit as he did so, and Rey let out a loud squeak as her head hit the pillow behind her harshly.

"Is it too early for you?" He purred out and Rey quickly shook her head, thrusting her hips upwards for more. Goddamn Ben and his teasing, she was getting positively _sick_ of it. "I can stop if you want me to, no pressure." He hummed as he nipped her neck, Rey letting out a small whine as she bucked her hips once again. He was teasing her so _slowly_ , and she _hated_ it. He was purposely doing it too, she knew that, and she let out a small whine as she grabbed his wrist. 

"B-Ben--"

"What?" He asked with faux innocence and Rey tried her hardest not to scowl up at him. Apparently she didn't try her very hardest because he instantly got the smugest expression on his face Rey had ever seen on a person. "Oh, that's right, you don't like being teased, huh? You like it fast? I keep forgetting how impatient you are,"

"Either fuck me or get off the bed," Rey growled and Ben hummed in thought before moving down again as he grabbed both of her thighs and moved his head downwards, darting his tongue out and giving Rey the slowest, teasing lick at the very center of her core.

Rey cried out softly in surprise as she instantly tangled her hands in his hair, arching her back off the bed as she whimpered. His tongue was so _warm_ and she needed more. Jesus Christ, the word 'more' wasn't even enough to describe it. She needed _everything_. 

A loud bang on the room next to them made Ben jerk his head up, Rey letting out a scream of frustration as she sat up and threw a pillow at the wall. "FUCK OFF, POE!"

"I'M NOT HEARING THAT SHIT WHEN I JUST WAKE UP--"

"I WILL FUCKING _GUT_ YOU!" Rey screamed as her fangs popped and Ben laughed nervously as a look of uneasiness entered his eyes. "YOU MADE BEN UNCOMFORTABLE!"

" _I_ MADE BEN UNCOMFORTABLE?! WHAT ABOUT ME?!"

"SCREW--" Ben clamped his hand down on Rey's mouth, Rey going silent and looking up at him with anger (not aimed towards him) in her eyes.

"Shh, no more yelling. Yelling is not necessary, he's making a valid point," He spoke softly and Rey growled lowly as she narrowed her eyes. "No, no, don't look at me like that. Why are you looking at me like that, you know I'm right."

"I am _angry_ ," She hissed out into his hand. "And I have every right to be because _someone_ interrupted what could have been a lovely morning--"

"WE LIVE HERE TOO!" That was Finn this time and Rey screamed into Ben's hand as she clenched her fists tightly. 

\-------------------------------

She had been glaring at Finn and Poe across the table for a good fifteen minutes now, the two of them excitedly chattering to each other as they flipped through one of Finn's old scrapbooks.

Ben was silently eating cereal (that Poe had kindly gotten for him) a few feet away in the kitchen as he nervously looked back and forth between the two men and her. She looked like a cobra getting prepared to strike at any moment, inaudible hisses leaving her mouth every few minutes.

"This was at a Beatles concert in Liverpool, you can see Rey's blurry outline just right over here in the corner! Sadly we don't really show up in photos," Finn chirped happily and Poe nodded, Rey slowly narrowing her eyes as another hiss escaped her lips. "Ringo was her absolute favorite, isn't that right, Rey? You would think it'd be John or Paul or even George, but no! No, no, she really loved Ringo--"

"I also love being able to have sex with my life mate in my own home, but I suppose that's just not up to par with you, huh?" Rey snarled and Finn looked up at her with narrowed eyes, Poe sighing as he took the scrapbook from his hands. 

"Not where we can hear it, sweetpea--"

"Do you know how many times I've heard you two going at it like bloody rabbits in heat?! You honestly think it's fair that you two get to interrupt--"

"Hey, uh," Ben cut her off and her head whipped towards him, the man flinching at her slit pupils. He didn't think he'd ever get used to that. "I--I like Ringo, too,"

"Oh, would you look at that? It's like you two were made for each other." Poe smiled softly and Rey cursed loudly under her breath as she glared down at the table.

"'Octopus's Garden' is a great song, I think it's brilliant--"

"It is brilliant," Rey muttered as she sank down in her chair, the vampire slowly letting the rage leave her system. "It's a straight up bop and a half, that's what it is."

"Yes, I agree, it is a...'bop'," Ben cleared his throat before taking another bite of his cereal and Rey glanced over at him before smiling softly, relief flooding his system as she did so. "I too would like to be under the sea in an Octopus's garden in the shade."

"Yeah, that sounds--"

"You couldn't breathe though," Poe frowned as he cut her off and Rey pressed her lips together tightly. "That's the sad part, you wouldn't be able to--"

"Shh, babe," Finn hummed as he took the scrapbook back. "It's metaphorical." 

"I don't think it was metaphorical, I'm pretty sure Ringo was high when he wrote that." Ben smirked and Rey snorted loudly as she threw her head back. God, she loved Ben's commentary. 

"He wasn't high," Rey laughed and Ben raised an eyebrow. "Ringo went on vacation in Sardinia in 1968, and on a boat trip the boat captain talked about cool octopuses are. Like, how they take stones and shiny objects along the sea floor to place in front of their little caves to build little gardens for themselves."

"See, that's actually a really fucking cool fact! What other random, cool facts do you know, Rey?" Poe grinned and Rey laughed again as she shrugged. 

"A group of flamingos is called a 'flamboyance'." She smiled and Poe continued to grin as she kept listing numerous upon numerous random facts she had learned over the years.

Ben loved watching her talk, the way her eyes lit up and her smile, _God_ , her smile. He could watch her talk for hours, he could just stand there and listen to her rambling for eternity. 

Finn silently looked over at him and Ben froze as he saw the hidden malice in his eyes, the hidden desire that was screaming ' _go back to where you came from_ '. Ben silently furrowed his brows and Finn narrowed his eyes before looking back at Rey with a brilliant smile, Rey too distracted with her facts to notice the silent interaction.

Finn...hated him, he could see that now. Finn hated him because of everything that had happened since he had come into Rey's life, and Ben looked down with a slightly angry expression as he leaned back against the kitchen counter. Finn had no right to hate him, _none_ of this was his fault. He had no control over the fact that his uncle was a hunter, nor did he have any control over the FBI being on both of their asses. This _wasn't_ his fucking fault, this was his uncle's. 

"You okay?" Rey was suddenly beside him and he looked up at her with a smile, nodding as he did so. 

"I'm great," He was going to need to confront Finn about everything, and he could feel the man glaring at him without even looking. "What about you?"

"I'm great, too." Rey smiled happily and Ben nodded again.

They didn't know that this brief happy moment would be ruined tomorrow night, and that the singular act Ben would do that would make him just as dark as her was right around the corner.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I'm so sorry it took me a few days to update! ;w; I've been having a little writer's block these past few days, and I'm trying to make the story as positively perfect as I can for you guys! Once again, thank y'all so much for reading, you honestly don't know how happy it makes me that y'all are enjoying the fic 😭💕

Ben was silently standing several feet away from the ocean at the beach, his eyes glued to the ever moving and ever changing waves with his brows furrowed and his hands shoved in his pockets.

Rey was off somewhere, he could hear her distantly laughing, but his mind was elsewhere with her just as pleasant background noise. Flashes of Holdo kept playing through his head, his thoughts screaming about how Rey needed protection, how Rey needed--

"The waves are nice at night, yeah?" Ben looked over to see Finn standing beside him. "They're pitch black, just like the sky. You could very easily get lost in its waters at night, just surrounded by...ink," Finn sighed and Ben silently narrowed his eyes. He couldn't tell if this was a hidden threat or not. "It'd almost be impossible to find someone in those shadowy waters." Ah, yes, that was most _definitely_ a hidden threat, and not a very well hidden one at that.

"It's not my fault that--"

"It is," Finn cut him off and Ben clenched his jaw. "It is your fault, Ben." Finn glanced over at him, his eyes doing the same eerie reflective green that Ben had seen so many times on Rey. "You put us all in danger, you made us move away from our home, and, frankly, I don't trust you with Rey."

He didn't _trust_ him with Rey? After everything he's done for her?

"You're fucking joking, right? The shit I have done for her--"

"No, Ben, the shit _I've_ done for her outweighs all the shit you've done for her. What did you do, hide a body? That's only the--"

"I cut a body up with a goddamn hacksaw for her." Ben looked beyond furious now, Finn slowly smirking before scoffing and shaking his head.

"Did you now? My, my, perhaps I was too quick to judge what you'd do to be able to fuck her--"

"Don't you _dare_ insinuate that I only want her for sex!" Ben snapped and Finn's eyes shined dangerously as his expression grew dark. "I know you hate me for something that isn't my fault, but you need to think about how Rey is feeling about all of this. She's scared too, why don't you understand that? She's--"

"You should've never come into our lives," Finn hissed loudly as his fangs popped and Rey was suddenly right there, shoving Finn backwards and looking at him with an extremely hurt expression.

Finn growled softly before looking at her. "Rey, I--"

"Don't threaten him," Rey spoke softly as she shielded Ben from Finn, Finn staring at her with an expression of disbelief. "I don't know what you two were talking about, I was too busy in the cove with Poe, but don't threaten him. Please, Finn, don't threaten him." Her tone was still incredibly soft and Ben gently wrapped his arms around her torso as he brought her closer back against him. "None of this is his--"

"It is, Rey! We had to leave our home! At first I played along, just for your sake, but we're now being personally hunted! You told me about Holdo--"

"And I took care of her, didn't I? I'm going to take care of Luke too, and--and if we have to live underground, we can--"

"Are you hearing yourself?!" Finn snapped and Poe slowly came walking over, his eyes doing the same exact thing as the other two. In this moment, Ben felt like the only human in existence. 

"I-it's not his fault, Finn, _please_ \--"

"IT IS!" Finn shouted and Poe came up behind him, gently grabbing his arm and whispering something in his ear to which Finn instantly calmed down. "...We'll see you later, Rey." Finn muttered as Poe and he walked off, Rey sighing loudly as she hung her head. 

"...They hate me--"

"No," Rey sighed once more as she leaned back against Ben, closing her eyes as she did so. "They're acting like this because they feel extremely threatened."

"But--"

"We're animals, Ben," She placed her hands on his arms, opening her eyes as she looked up at him. "When animals feel threatened, they do extremely rash things, right? They become much more aggressive and will do anything in order to protect themselves. They don't hate you, Ben, they just--they're threatened by everything that's happening..." Rey hung her head once again and Ben slowly turned her around, tilting her chin up so their eyes could meet.

"But it's not my fault," He spoke softly and Rey bit her lower lip. "It's not my fault any of this happened, and they're not being fair to your emotions--"

"They'll calm down when all of this is over, I promise. In a few years, you and them are going to be really good friends, and everything will be fine..." It sounded as if Rey was trying to force herself to believe what she was saying was true, and Ben slowly frowned as she began to play with a strand of her hair nervously. 

"Do you...actually believe that, though?" 

"...Yes," Rey whispered as her expression saddened and Ben sighed quietly as he looked out at the ocean.

"I think maybe...after a few years, everything will calm down, I believe you are correct about that. I think they're just being protective over you because it was just you three for so long, you know?" He looked back at her and she was staring up at him with sad eyes. "I'm sure once you turn--"

"Oh," She whispered and Ben instantly shut his mouth. She must still be extremely sensitive on the subject of turning him. "Oh..." She repeated as she looked towards the ocean, worry shining in her eyes. "I...I still..."

"I'm not forcing you to do it now, baby, it's just in the future, yeah? I'm still your sun, don't worry." He smiled and Rey looked at him as she smiled softly back.

"I could really use a hug from the sun right now, actually..." She sniffed and Ben chuckled as he picked her up, Rey wrapping her legs around his waist and clinging to him tightly as she buried his face in his shoulder. 

"It's several hours until sunrise, is there anything you want to do? We could go back to the house or--"

"I wanna show you the cove." Rey purred quietly and Ben gently placed her down back on the ground, Rey taking his hand and leading him to the end of the private beach to a shady cove.

"This is...beautiful," Ben breathed out as he stepped inside the cave, Rey practically vibrating with excitement as he looked around. "Are these all your seashells that you've glued to the wall?"

"Yes!" She squealed as she hurried over, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly as she bounced up and down. "Do you recognize the constellation?"

The seashells _were_ glued on the wall in the form of a constellation. It wasn't one of the ones he recognized Rey had pointed out the night before in the car, and he suddenly regretted not paying attention to astrology club in middle school (it was his mother's idea, and he honestly just read for an hour every day in it). "...I'm sorry, I can't place it." He frowned and Rey gently nudged him with a grin. 

"It's Cetus," She continued to grin and he looked down at her. "Cetus was a sea monster in Greek Mythology that both Heracles and Perseus needed to slay. It's sometimes called 'the whale' in English. I thought it fit the atmosphere pretty perfectly, eh?" She winked and Ben chuckled softly as he looked back at the seashell art.

"It does, yeah!" He smiled and she beamed happily at his words before pausing.

"You know," Her tone was quiet this time. "I've always felt the uttermost sympathy for the monsters in Greek Mythology."

"Why's that?" He asked as he looked back at her and she let go of his hand, gently brushing her fingertips against the seashell constellation with a far off look in her eyes.

"They were just trying to survive," She whispered and Ben suddenly realized that she wasn't talking just about the monsters. "They were only doing what they knew to do, they only followed their instincts. They weren't evil in their own eyes, they were just...themselves."

"Greek heroes are jerks," Ben smirked and Rey looked over at him with surprise in her eyes. "They're almost always full of themselves, right? I agree with you, I think the monsters got a bad rap." 

"They completely and totally did," She smiled that brilliant firework of a smile at him and he couldn't help but smile back. "Greek heroes are complete arses." 

"Yeah, they are." He gently brushed her hair back, Rey turning to face him and gently grabbed his hand before putting their palms flush against each other's. She laced their fingers together, staring up at him with what he could only describe as pure love in her eyes.

"Ben," She spoke in a breathless whisper and his heart fluttered at her saying his name in such a fashion. "No one can hear us here, we're completely alone."

Oh. _Oh._

"You want to do it...in the cove?" He asked and Rey snorted softly before laughing quietly.

"No, Ben, in the ocean."

"I think I'd prefer the--"

"Yes, you adorable moron, of course I mean the cove!" She laughed louder and Ben's cheeked flushed red. "I have blankets in the back of the cave, I used to sleep back here back in the eighties sometimes. The sunlight doesn't stream in through the back of the cove, and it's actually rather peaceful. There's a little rock pool in the back that I just like to relax in from time to time." She let go of his hand but he instantly grabbed it again with a look of desperation in his eyes, Rey blinking before looking up at him in confusion.

"I'm--I'm sorry, I just...I like touching you..." Ben's cheeks turned an even darker shade of red and Rey chuckled softly as she laced their fingers together again.

"It's the bond, my love. It tells you instinctually that I need to be with you at all times, that's why you panic when I move away from you. It's okay, just come with me." She lead him to the back of the cave while still holding his hand, the vampire walking backwards so she was still facing him. "See? I'm not going anywhere, we're going together! It's okay!" She chirped and he felt his heart melt happily into a puddle.

"Mhm," He breathed out as they got deeper into the cove, his eyes having to adjust to the dark as they did so. He wasn't afraid about falling because Rey was guiding him, and he knew she'd never let him fall. 

The only thing he could see was her eyes reflecting in the dark; unblinking and bright. At first her eyes had terrified him, but now he thought they were one of the most beautiful, ethereal things he had ever seen. Inhumanly gorgeous, supernaturally stunning, and undeniably _her_.

"We're almost there, don't worry. You can hear the drip of the water, right?" Rey spoke softly and Ben quickly nodded. "I have an electric lantern back here, too, I'll turn it on for you when we get there."

"Why do you have an electric lantern?"

"I like to read with the light on, dummy," She snorted loudly and Ben scoffed with a smile. "Just because I can see perfectly in the dark doesn't mean I still don't like the light."

"You know, I've actually been meaning to ask you why you wore sunglasses to the--"

"Precinct? Poe told me that the lights were fluorescent, and because I'm so old...well, fluorescent lights just don't really mix well with me. They sting my eyes."

"Oh...oh, geez, I'm sorry," He frowned and Rey suddenly stopped in her tracks, Ben freezing as she did so.

"We're here," He felt her let go of his hand, the cove lighting up as she turned on the electric lantern. "Ta-da!" Rey held her arms out in a proud gesture as she grinned, Ben looking around with an expression of wonder.

She had made the back of her cove into her own little den. There was a small bookshelf against the cove wall that was filled with at least fifteen books that looked well over a hundred years old, a grey blanket laid out by the rock pool that had a few decoration pillows scattered on it. The rock pool itself was stunning all on its own, the blue water reflecting on the ceiling. 

"Oh, wow, Rey...this is like something out of Peter Pan or something," He breathed out and Rey laughed loudly as she sat down on the blanket.

"You think? You think this place is worthy of the Lost Boys gang?"

"In that mermaid cove part of the movie, yeah,"

"Well, that actually means a lot," Rey preened as she purred quietly, Ben kneeling down in front of the rock pool and gently touching the cool water with his fingertips. "I've always liked mermaids, you know."

"Don't tell me mermaids are real, too,"

"If they are, I haven't seen them." Rey shrugged and Ben looked over at her. "Don't start asking me if werewolves are real as well because I also have no clue if they are." She huffed and he sat down beside her, both of them laying back and staring up at the ceiling.

"Rey, I--" He was cut off by her rolling on top of him, straddling him as she kissed him sweetly. 

"What?" She breathed into the kiss and he slid her hands up her bare thighs as he hummed quietly in response. She was wearing this yellow sundress, even though it was the winter, and he had a feeling she wore it because she had planned this all along. "What is it, Ben?"

"Nothing," He muttered as she pulled back, Rey cocking her head as she looked down at him. Her hair was down today, her brown tresses framing her face and the tips of her hair touched his chest.

"Do you not want to--"

"You're kidding, right?" He deadpanned and Rey shrugged quickly before leaning down and kissing him again. He flipped them over and Rey let out a loud giggle as he nipped her jaw playfully while she clung to tightly to him.

"B-Ben, stop teasing!"

"This is nothing close to teasing and you very well know that," He purred in her ear and Rey shivered as she bit her lower lip. He wasn't wrong. She remembered what had happened in the bedroom earlier that night... _before_ they were interrupted. 

He slowly moved his way down, kissing down her chest and stomach while humming softly. She felt his hands slide up her thighs, Rey shuddering at the more than warm touch. He was so warm, so incredibly warm, and she didn't know how much it would take for him to completely push her over the edge. 

He lifted up her sundress once he settled between her thighs, a breathless laugh escaping his lips as his eyes flicked up to hers. "You really did plan this out, didn't you?"

"C-can't a girl just not wear underwear from time to time?" Rey stuttered and Ben chuckled quietly as he moved his head down.

"I'm not complaining," He dragged the tip of his tongue up her slit, Rey gasping loudly as her hips twitched. He instantly held her hips down as she let out a loud whine of being restrained to the blanket covered ground beneath her. 

And then he was practically devouring her, his tongue and mouth heavily skilled and knowing just exactly where to lick and suck to make her cry out and writhe. Her hands dove into his hair, tangling themselves in the inky silk, and she threw her head back as a long string of high pitched noises flew from her lips.

"B-Ben--fuck, fuck, _fuck_ , I can't--"

"You can't what?" He pulled back and she nearly screamed when he licked his lips with a grin. "Is it too--"

"T-too fucking much?! Where the _fuck_ did you learn to eat a woman out like that?!" She snapped breathlessly and he bit back a smirk. 

"I went to college--"

"Bullocks, they don't teach you that at college," Her head hit the pillow with a loud 'thud' as her chest heaved silently. She was _soaked_ from him only going down on her for less than a minute and she didn't know how much more she could take before she fell apart. 

"No, they don't have a class," Ben chuckled as he sank a finger deep between her folds, Rey whimpering loudly as she rolled her hips. "You learn it on your own, kind of like...self taught classes," 

"I-I don't want to know who your teacher was, I might get jealous." Rey rolled her hips again as he began to thrust his finger in out of her at a quickened pace, loud whimpers and whines escaping her lips as he added a second.

"You're _soaked_ , Rey," He growled out as he angled her hips up so he could thrust his fingers in deeper. The sound was positively obscene in her ears, Rey thrashing around as he held her down once again with his free hand.

"J-just fucking fuck me, Ben, I swear to--FUCK!" She screamed as he added a third finger, another scream followed by it as her cunt clenched around his fingers as her orgasm exploded within her.

"Oh, _baby_ ," He purred out as he stilled his fingers, Rey gasping for air she didn't need as her body trembled. "Good girl." Her pussy fluttered at his praise, a soft mewl escaping her lips as she panted.

"Ben, please..." She pleaded (her tone exceptionally, pathetically needy in her point of view), and Ben quickly stood up. He practically tore off his clothes, Rey giggling quietly at his eagerness. But, in all honesty, she had no right to laugh because she was just as eager as him. 

"I've been wanting to fuck you since this evening," He knelt down between her thighs, pulling her closer by her thighs as he lined himself up. "I've been wanting to fuck you since we last fucked in the hotel shower."

Rey sat up as she pulled her dress off, Ben pulling her into a searing kiss after she did so. "Then ruin me, Ben," Rey breathed into his mouth and he pushed into her without warning, Rey crying out as she threw her head back.

"Fucking you is like being in a dream," He groaned as he pulled her into his lap as he sat, their hips moving together in perfect, quickened sync. Her thighs were planted firmly at his lower sides, his arms tucked underneath hers as his hands rested on the small of her back. 

She moaned loudly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her head resting against his as she sped her hips up. "Fucking _perfect_." He let out a shuddering breath as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, Rey desperately trying to move her hips even faster to have him hit that special spot deep within her.

He pulled back and kissed her roughly, Rey eagerly kissing back as she scraped her nails up his back. The kiss was all teeth, messy and animalistic, and Rey knew she would be more than ruined soon. The way he was gripping at her, the way his warmth seeped underneath her skin and went straight to her cunt was overwhelming.

The cove was filled with moans and the sound of skin on skin, the both of them completely forgetting where they even were as their thoughts were only consumed by each other. All he saw was her, all she saw was him, and the only thing they could feel was the immeasurable pleasure of one another. It was as if time didn't exist in this moment, as if the world had paused and the only things still moving were them.

"I love you," He breathed into her skin as he bent his head down to her neck. "Rey, God, Rey, I _love_ you." 

"B-Ben," Rey whined out as tears of joy pricked her eyes, her fangs popping out from the overwhelming amount of emotions she was currently experiencing. Joy, love, euphoria, blinding bliss blossoming behind her eyes as she clung tightly to him. "I-I love so, so, _so_ much more!" She choked out as she squeezed her eyes shut, a loud cry flying from her mouth as she came the second time that night.

She heard him curse loudly as she clenched tightly around him, Rey feeling himself release deep within her which only made her eyes roll back as she went limp against him. "Warm..." She breathed out as her eyes fluttered shut, Ben holding her close against him as he regulated his breathing.

"You're wonderful," He cupped the back of her head as she rested her head against his shoulder. "You're more than I could have ever asked for."

"Oh, Ben...you're too sweet to me..." Rey muttered out and Ben chuckled breathlessly as the two clung tightly to each other.

\-----------------------------------

"California, huh? You're certain you saw her in California?"

" _Yes, sir. We saw her near Shelter Cove about an hour ago with Benjamin Solo. There are two others with them, and we are most likely about to capture both of them at any moment. We're looking at them as we speak._ "

"Perfect, thank you. You have my order to capture them." 

" _Of course, sir._ "

"Call me back when you have them." Luke sighed as he hung up the phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat, the older man eye's planted firmly on the road as he drove.

"Siri, put on the directions for Shelter Cove." He announced loudly and his phone dinged on the seat beside him, the directions soon being spoken as he narrowed his eyes. 

He was going to bring Ben home. He was going to bring him home at any cost, even if that meant he had to knock him unconscious and tie him up and put him in his trunk.

And he was going to kill Rey for everything he had put his family through.

\------------------------------

Ten minutes to dawn and Rey and Ben burst into the beach house while laughing loudly, Rey suddenly freezing as she dropped her ballet flats on the ground with a horrified expression. The beach house was completely _wrecked_. Furniture had been thrown around, a few windows broken and glass littering the floor. 

"B-Ben...?" Rey choked out as tears welled up in her eyes and Ben instantly started checking around the house for Finn and Poe. She heard him shouting their names, Ben frantically searching every room. Almost all of the rooms looked as if there had been a fight in them, a long struggle and he could nearly hear Finn and Poe screaming as they fought off what he could only expect to be hunters.

Rey tended up as she saw a piece of paper on the kitchen counter, walking over to it and shakily picking it up.

' _We have your friends. We'll give them back for Benjamin Solo. Meet us at this location at midnight or else we'll kill your friends. Thanks :)_ ' "B-BEN!" Rey screamed as her fangs popped out, the vampire seeing red as she read the note over and over again before letting out an animalistic scream and tearing the note to shreds. That smiley face was the most obnoxious thing she had ever seen and she was going to tear the throat out of the wise guy hunter who thought it would be hilarious to even put that on there.

She was going to _kill_ Luke Skywalker and eat his heart in front of his dying eyes if it was the last thing she did.


	17. Chapter 17

Ben rushed in to see Rey positively livid, the man freezing several feet away from her as she looked at him with a murderous gaze.

"Rey, Rey, stop for a--"

"THEY TOOK MY PROGENIES!" She screamed at him and Ben instantly ran over, grabbing her and pulling her into a tight embrace as she began to sob. "T-they're going to kill them, we need to go--"

"It's almost sunrise, baby, we can't do anything right now if we even wanted to." He spoke in a calming tone as he rubbed her back comfortingly, Rey clutching his shirt tightly as she let out a pained scream into his chest.

How had she not felt Finn and Poe's terror? How had she not felt it through the maker-progeny bond? She should've felt it, she should've felt it and she should've ran to their aid. But she didn't, and all she could do was scream in anguish and sorrow.

"Do you know where they are, Rey?"

"Y-yes...the bastard wants us to meet him at an abandoned building not far from here," Rey snarled out, the vampire becoming exhausted from the constant switching of emotions she was going through. "But I _need_ to go now--"

"No, baby, no, you'll die." Ben breathed shakily as he held her closer and Rey let out yet another scream. He was right, he was utterly and completely right, and all she wanted to do was kill Luke Skywalker. "We'll go the first minute we wake up, okay? Okay? We'll get Finn and Poe back, don't worry."

She had to force herself to sleep, Ben holding her closely from behind as they both stared at the covered window. Her eyes were beginning to become droopy, and she felt heavily betrayed by her own body.

She hated this. She hated that her body could not stand the sun, that her skin was not immune to daylight, but what she hated most was that all she could do was lay here and do nothing.

"Rey," Ben whispered softly as she turned over to face him, her eyes shining with the heaviest of sorrow. "It's not your fault." He caressed her cheek, Rey whimpering as she leaned into his touch.

"I feel like it is," She whimpered louder and Ben gently shook his head. "I should've felt them, I...why didn't I feel them...?"

"I can't answer that, my love, but it's not your fault. Please don't blame yourself, it will only cause you more suffering than necessary."

"...Will you wake the moment the sun sets?" She snuggled closer to him, resting her cheek against his shoulder as she closed her eyes.

"Of course,"

"Do you promise?"

"I promise." 

And at that, she let herself fall asleep into the blackness of slumber.

\-------------------------------------

The moment the sun set, Ben quickly awoke Rey and she was already getting dressed the moment she got out of bed.

"I don't want you interfering, Ben, I need you to stay by my side and--"

"Are you suggesting that I don't fight?" Ben cut her off and Rey paused as she was buttoning up her jeans. "Rey, I'm not going to just sit there--"

"I can't have you getting hurt, Ben, you wouldn't--ugh, you wouldn't understand! If you get hurt, I get hurt!" Rey hissed out and Ben furrowed his brows.

"And if you get hurt, _I_ get hurt," His voice softened and Rey paused again before looking up at him. "This is a two way street, Rey. This isn't a one way road."

"...I couldn't live with myself if you got injured, Ben," Rey sighed quietly as she walked over to him, gently grabbing his hand with both of hers and squeezing it. "I don't want any of your blood spilled because of me, can you understand that?"

"I think you'll find that I feel the same." Ben offered her a crooked smile and Rey snorted quietly before pressing her forehead against his chest and inhaling deeply. 

He pulled her close and they just stood there for a moment, the both of them basking in each other as they tried to forget, for just a brief moment, that they weren't about to engage in what would most likely be a bloodbath.

"Tell me it's going to be okay, Ben," Rey whispered as she squeezed her eyes shut, clutching his shirt tightly in her hands. "Tell me we're going to win, tell me we're going to get Finn and Poe back without any trouble."

"Hey, hey," He pulled back to tilt her chin up, bloody tears welling in her eyes as he did so. "It's going to be okay, we're going to win, and we're going to get Finn and Poe back without any trouble. Okay?"

"M-mhm..." Rey sniffled loudly and Ben wiped her tears away with the greatest of care. She sniffled again before composing herself, her eyes flicking over to Ben's suitcase beside the bed. "How many guns do you have in there, Ben?"

"At least three," Ben muttered as his eyes went over to the suitcase as well. "And at least five boxes of bullets."

"That'll do just fine."

\--------------------------------------

The moment Rey and Ben stepped out of the stairwell out on the abandoned building rooftop, she halted and held her arm out to shield Ben as she saw Luke standing there in front of fifteen other hunters. 

"Hello, Luke," She bit out and Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm actually impressed you were able to find me, but you weren't really the one who did all the work, did you?"

"You've really got a mouth on you, don't you?" Luke's tone was gritty and low, and Rey clicked her tongue before looking at every single one of the hunters behind him. "So, this is how it's going to--"

"Hang on," She cut him off and Luke furrowed his brows in confusion. "I would like to know which one of you put the smiley face on the note?"

Silence was all she got in return and she sucked in her breath as she put her hands on her hips, rocking back and forth on her heels as she looked up at the sky. "Nothing is happening until I find out who left that obnoxious smiley face on that note. I've got all night."

"Uh...it was me?" A man held up his hand and within the blink of an eye, Rey grabbed the gun from Ben's hand and shot the hunter in the head. Ben let out a loud curse as the hunter's body fell to the ground and Luke huffed in annoyance under his breath as the other hunters stayed perfectly still.

"Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can talk!" She handed the gun back to Ben without even looking at him and Ben slowly took it back. "I'm sorry for that minor setback, but you can understand why I did that, right? I mean, who the _fuck_ leaves a smiley face on a note telling someone that their friends will be killed? Like, come on! That's awful, right?" She laughed and Luke's eye twitched.

"Baby, they're not gonna entertain anything you say," Ben leaned down as he whispered in her ear and Rey shrugged in response. "In fact, I don't even think they really care that you shot him in the first place. If they do, they're not really showing it."

"I haven't really used a gun before this, you know that?" She whispered back and he suddenly looked thoughtful.

"Really? That was the first time you shot a gun?"

"Basically, yeah,"

"Well, you did an incredible job,"

"Aw, thank you!"

"Yeah, you really--"

"Enough!" Luke shouted and both Ben and Rey looked at him. "Jesus, _enough_!" Luke growled as he cocked his gun and Rey pressed her lips together tightly as she looked at him with distaste.

"I'd like to see Poe and Finn first, please." She crossed her arms across her chest and Luke hesitated for a moment before nodding, two other hunters coming out and dragging Finn and Poe out with them. They both had bags over their heads and their wrists were zip tied together, Rey chuckling quietly at the sight while shaking her head. "Hey, boys, how you holding up?"

"This kind of sucks, to be honest," Poe spoke loudly and Finn sighed in irritation as he hung his head. "But we're good! This hasn't been fun in the slightest, but we're good!"

"They feed you?" 

"Ah, no--"

"Would you like to be fed?" Rey never tore her eyes away from Luke, the older man clenching his jaw as rage shone in his eyes.

"...Peanut, what are you-- _oh_." Finn breathed out in realization but quickly stopped as a gun was cocked behind his head. "Rey, I don't exactly think it's a good idea if we try to break free and kill all of the hunters. As great of an idea as that is, don't get me wrong, but I kinda have a gun pointed at me."

Rey ran her tongue over her teeth before clicking her tongue and nodding. "Hey, Luke? They really don't have anything to do with this, if you could just--"

"Let them go?" Luke arched a brow and Rey nodded, Luke pausing before bursting into loud laughter and shaking his head. The other hunters began to laugh as well and Rey deadpanned.

"We're playing that way, huh?" Rey muttered before grabbing Ben's free arm, rolling his sleeve up as her fangs popped out. Luke instantly stopped laughing as his face fell and Ben bit back a loud groan as she traced the vein on his wrist with her tongue, her eyes still locked on Luke.

"Rey, I demand that you--"

"You can't demand anything of me," Rey smiled as she playfully nipped Ben's wrist, Ben jumping slightly as he groaned quietly. He had secretly been fantasizing about her biting him for a few days now and the thought of her doing so right now thrilled him (even though she had told him the pain would be beyond excruciating, he still wanted to feel it). "I'm not yours to control, Skywalker."

"You--you want your friends to be let go? We'll let them go! We'll let them go, just please don't bite him!" Luke pleaded and Rey chuckled softly as she dragged her tongue up Ben's wrist. "Rey, please--"

"I've always found the idea of family amusing," She hummed as she pressed herself back against Ben. "The very thought of a group of people giving you unconditional love simply because they have to. You can't choose who your family is, but you have to love them. You love Ben, don't you?" Her eyes shined with dangerous intent, Luke's chest heaving silently as he slowly lowered his gun.

"Y-yes," His tone was full of sorrow and hurt, stained heavily by fear. "Yes, he's family."

"Mmn..." Her eyes flicked over to Finn and Poe. "Let them go, Luke. Let them go and I won't bite him."

Ben let out a quiet whine at her words but Rey quickly shushed him before scraping his fangs across his wrist teasingly. This was _hell_ to her. His blood was right there beneath his skin, and all she had to do was bite down to let it flow into her mouth. But she couldn't, she knew she couldn't, and the only reason she was torturing herself like this was for Luke to let go of Finn and Poe.

Luke motioned over to the hunters to let Poe and Finn go, the two hunters standing behind them ripping the bags off their heads and cutting the zip ties.

"Fuck," Poe breathed out as he rubbed his wrists and Finn looked at Rey with a worried expression.

"Go, I'll meet you two back at the beach house, okay?" Rey smiled as she gripped Ben's arm tighter, Finn opening his mouth to speak but quickly shutting it before nodding.

"Don't get killed," Finn whispered and Rey glanced down before looking back up at him. "Please Rey, don't--neither of you. Neither of you get killed, okay? I'm sorry, Ben, I'm so sorry I was an asshole to you, I didn't--fuck, I'm sorry--"

"I think we can make our apologies back at the beach house, yeah? Now isn't exactly the time." Ben smiled and Finn smiled back as he nodded, Poe gently grabbing his hand before both of them seemed to vanish.

A hunter suddenly raised her gun and aimed it at Rey, but Ben shot her in the head without even looking and Luke's face fell yet again.

"Great shot, honey," Rey smiled and Ben bit back a smile as he stared at Luke. "That's one headshot for you and one for me, I think we're doing pretty well so far, huh?"

"B-Ben..." Luke whispered and Ben looked away before looking back with a hardened, emotionless expression. 

"You're not taking me back, Luke," Ben ground out and Rey dropped his wrist, her fangs remaining extended. "I'm staying right here with her, and you can't stop me from doing so."

"What have you done to him?!" One of the hunters shouted and Ben cocked his gun again, Rey looking over at her.

"Nothing," She stated bluntly. "I've done nothing at all, this is just him now. Love tends to bring out your true self."

"Monster!"

"She's using the allure on him!"

"Just fuckin' shoot her already!"

"Kill her!" The hunters erupted into loud commotion and Rey sighed before stretching and rolling her neck. She was ready for this, this wasn't something she was foreign to. She had killed numerous groups of people before, and fifteen wasn't that big of a number (since two were already dead). 

"Luke, would you like to send them away? Or would you like Ben and I to kill them all?" Rey asked and Luke looked beyond agitated. 

"In my opinion, I don't think we should leave any of them alive," Ben murmured and Rey nodded silently in agreement. "I say we kill them all right now and just--" He couldn't say it. He couldn't say 'and just kill Luke too'. 

"You can close your eyes when I do it, darling," Rey spoke softly and Ben glanced away. "You don't have to look."

Suddenly a gunshot went off and Rey blinked before looking down, her sweater slowly being stained by blood.

"R-Rey?!" Ben choked out and Rey groaned loudly in annoyance as she lifted her sweater up, digging the bullet out with her fingers before dropping it to the ground, the wound instantly healing.

"This sweater cost me two hundred dollars, you fucking moron!" She shouted at the hunter who shot her and suddenly everything erupted into chaos. The air was soon filled with the sounds of screams and bones breaking, Rey laughing maniacally as she tore each individual hunter apart.

Ben was also doing his part and shooting each hunter Rey wasn't getting to, and Luke just stood there with a heartbroken expression as tears rolled down his cheeks.

His nephew, the boy he helped raise with his sister, was killing innocent humans right before his very eyes. He was killing them with fury in his eyes, not even caring about the hunters' family members who would certainly mourn them.

Ben was _gone_ , and he didn't know how to cope with it. His nephew, the sweet boy he had known all of his life, was gone. Ben Solo existed no more.

He had, metaphorically, become a leech himself.

"Well," Rey chuckled as she wiped the blood from her face. "I think that went as expected, didn't it?"

"MONSTER!" Luke screamed and Rey cocked her head as she looked at him.

"You're right," She paused, her eyes staring dead into his. "I am a monster." She paused once more before laughing bitterly, pushing her hair back as she looked up towards the sky. 

"For centuries I have been nothing but an absolute monster. I have killed more than thousands of the human race, and you know...I don't think I ever mourned them." She laughed again, the raising moon highlighting her features vividly as well as the blood staining her face and clothing. "I never once sat down to think of those I've killed," She looked back at Luke as a fanged smile creeped up on her lips. "Because _I've never cared_."

Ben involuntarily took a step back from beside her at her words, something in the back of his mind telling him that this wasn't right. That her words were so morally wrong, were so incredibly inhumane. That killing all of those hunters was wrong, that he had taken lives that shouldn't have been taken in the first place. But the moment she looked over at him, with that softness in her eyes that only he had seen, that voice vanished. _You did this for her_ , he whispered in his mind. _You did this for her because it was the only thing you could do._

"But I care about Ben," She spoke softly as she turned her head back towards the older man in front of her. "And you need to let him go now."

"W-what?! Let him-- _let him go_?! Rey, he's my _family_! That's my nephew, that's my sister's kid, I--" She a couple tears slide down his cheeks. "You have no right to 'claim' him, you don't own him--"

"But, Luke, I do," Rey smiled with a scoff. "I own him, and he owns me. That's how lifemates work, didn't they teach you that?"

"W-wha--Ben, tell me this isn't true," Luke's face fell as he spoke in a frantic tone, Ben looking at him before back at Rey. 

"Yeah, it's true," Ben gently turned Rey's face towards him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled up at him. _Love_ , her eyes told him. _Pure, neverending love._ "And you need to do as she says. You need to let me go."

"But...if you're lifemates...that means--"

"You can't kill me without killing him, too." Rey whispered as she reached up and touched Ben's face, Ben leaning into her touch to which she smiled lovingly. "If you kill me, his body will fail. All organs will shut down, and within a minute, his heart will completely cease to beat."

Ben flinched slightly at her words, wishing she had told him this in the first place, as his eyes flicked over to Luke. Luke was...silently _crying_. He looked so incredibly torn, so violently heartbroken, and Ben could see the conflict in his blue eyes. Luke Skywalker was in _pain_. 

"Just let us go, Luke," Ben spoke lowly and Luke choked back a sob as his finger trembled above the trigger. "Just drop the gun and let us go. You heard her."

"Your thoughts betray you, Ben," Luke bit out as he stifled a sob. "How could you so willingly stand there beside her? How could you have even proceeded to bond with her?"

"I love her," Ben stated bluntly as he fully turned his face towards Luke, Rey gently hugging his arm and resting her head against his bicep. "Why else?"

"Then you truly are lost just like your grandfather was," Luke straightened up as his expression hardened and Rey's eyes widened.

It all happened so quickly.

He had jumped in front of her so fast, the sound of the gunshot still ringing in the air as he fell to his knees. "O-oh, shit..." He breathed out as he touched his torso, his hand coming back heavily painted with crimson.

"B-Ben?!" Rey shouted as she dropped to her knees beside him, Ben collapsing in her arms as she cradled him. She placed her hand against the bleeding wound, the scent of his blood consuming every one of her senses. _And so the sun bleeds red..._ "Ben, no--"

"I--I said I'd protect you, didn't I? I-I didn't protect you from the first bullet that got you...I needed--I-I needed to get this one..." He smiled and the tears began to flow from her eyes as she looked up at Luke and let out the most animalistic scream both Ben and Luke had ever heard.

" _MURDERER_!" She screeched at Luke, the older man stumbling backwards with a horrified expression. " _KILLER OF YOUR OWN BLOOD_!" 

Ben felt his head gently hit the ground as she left. He slowly turned his head once he heard Luke scream, seeing with his very own eyes Rey ripping his heart out of chest and tearing into it with her teeth. Before Luke could even fall to the ground she ripped him completely in half, right down the middle. 

"O-oh, baby...that's gruesome..." Ben choked out as tears pricked his eyes, his brain not fully processing what he had just seen. She ran back over to him, falling to her knees in front of him and leaning over him as she frantically pressed down on the gunshot wound. "Ow..." He hissed out as he winced, Rey letting out a sob as she shook her head.

"B-Ben, I--it's too soon, we were supposed to have so much more time! You're my sun, you're my warmth, I wanted--I wanted--"

"We'll have all the time in the world, Rey," He reached up and touched her face, her bottom lip trembling as tears streamed down her cheeks. "We'll always have forever, don't you--don't you get that?" He smiled before coughing up blood, Rey wailing loudly as she threw her head back. _The sun is dying, your sun is dying. A sun no more, but a fading star that is dying faster than you can stop it._

She let out yet another animalistic scream before diving down, tearing her fangs into his throat as she held him down. He screamed hoarsely, weakly clawing at her back from the searing pain of her bite. It hurt so much, it stung worse than the one time he got stung by a wasp as a child, and he screamed louder as she dug her fangs in deeper. 

One of the last things he saw was her pulling back, her lips smashing against his and he felt a thick liquid enter his mouth. He swallowed, Rey whimpering loudly into his mouth before pulling back and cradling his face in her hands. 

"Be with me, Ben," She breathed out shakily. "Please, be with me!"

And then it all faded to black.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe Morning Skyscrapers is over 😭 I'm not gonna lie, I'm crying just a smidge that it's over.  
> I hope y'all enjoyed this fic as much as I did writing it! Thank you all for leaving comments and kudos, it genuinely makes me so happy to know that y'all loved this fic!
> 
> So, for some odd reason, it's not letting me put 18/18? But this fic is completed, so I'll try to figure that out--

Ben was in agony. He kept waking up to scream, to claw at his throat only for Rey to grab his hands and whisper to him that everything was okay.

But everything _wasn't_ okay. It felt like acid was flowing through his veins, that the acid was coursing through every part of his body and dissolving everything in its malicious sight. 

He could feel her cold hands on him, the chill of her skin the only relief he got, and he wasn't even sure how much time had passed by.

He couldn't see at all, his vision blackened and everything too loud around him. He could hear his own screaming, his own agony, and yet there was nothing he could do. What could he do in this situation except scream? He wanted to die, he begged for it even out loud, but she was keeping him there.

She was keeping him right there in that bed, never leaving his side as the hours past. The moment he fell silent, Rey felt like time itself had stopped.

"Ben," She smiled as she straddled him, cradling his face in his hands as she excitedly anticipated his eyes opening. "Ben, my love, open your eyes. It's over now, you can open your eyes!"

Nothing. 

"Ben?" Her smile faltered slightly as she gently patted his cheek. "Ben, baby, come on. Come on, come on, come on, open your eyes! It's okay, it's over, it's okay! It's okay, open your eyes!" 

Still nothing.

She felt like the world was slowly crumbling around her, her chest heaving as she shook his shoulders. "BEN?!" She screamed and tears pricked her eyes. "B-BEN, OPEN YOUR _FUCKING_ EYES!"

"Rey, Rey," Finn was suddenly behind her and pulled her off of him, Rey kicking and screaming as he did so. "Rey, shh, shh! Shh, sometimes it takes a moment--"

"I-I CAN'T FEEL HIM!" Rey shrieked as tears streamed down her face, Finn holding her tightly against him from behind as he closed his eyes. "S-STOP, STOP! I CAN'T FEEL HIM!"

\---------------------------------------

_"Ben," Ben turned around as he heard Luke's voice, the dark water he was standing in sloshing around him. "Do you regret it?"_

_Ben blinked before furrowing his brows as he noticed the gaping hole in the older man's chest._

_"Ben, do you regret it?" Luke repeated and Ben breathed shakily before shaking his head and taking a step backwards._

_"How could I ever regret her?" Ben spoke and his voice echoed throughout the darkness. "You stood in our way, it--it isn't my fault you died. You could've stayed at home with mom and dad, you know?" Ben looked away and Luke sighed loudly._

_"We were family," Luke spoke softly and Ben tensed up. "All I ever wanted for you was to be happy, Ben--"_

_"I am happy with her, why aren't you--"_

_"Ah..." Luke looked down with a broken smile and Ben swallowed thickly. "Then you truly are lost." Luke split in half right before him, his halves hitting the water with a loud splash and Ben screamed for Rey._

Ben woke up gasping and immediately gagged loudly at the action, erupting into a coughing fit as he forced himself to sit up.

"BEN?!" That was her voice. She was here. Everything was alright now, she was here.

He tried to shout her name back but nothing came out of his mouth, his hand flying to his throat as a burning began to grow within it.

"B-Ben!" He saw her run in, the brunette jumping on the bed and into his arms. He instantly clung to her, holding her tightly as she sobbed loudly into his neck. "Ben...Ben...!"

 _Here_ , he whispered mentally. _Here, I'm here. I'm with you._

 _I missed you..._ That was her voice in his mind, and he only held her tighter because of it. _I couldn't feel you, I--I thought I did it wrong--_

 _Shh, no, no, you did perfect_ , he sighed quietly as he buried his face in her hair, her scent silently making him purr. She smelled like the ocean, like the seabreeze and salt. How had he never smelled her like this before? _You did perfect._

"Ben..." Her tone was full of love this time, Rey pulling back as she caressed his cheek. "I need to feed you, I can feel the burning."

He paused for a moment before his eyes widened as he suddenly realized what he had become.

"I'm so, so, _so_ sorry I had to turn you this soon, I wanted more time for you...I don't even know if you're ready for this lifestyle--"

 _Are you kidding? With you, I'm ready for everything._ He smiled and she looked ready to start crying again. 

_Rey, what is it...?_

"Y-you're still the sun," She choked out and his expression softened. "I didn't kill the sun!"

"No," He rasped out and she did start crying again by the sound of his voice leaving his lips. "No, you didn't."

She bit her tongue and kissed him softly, Ben groaning loudly in relief as her blood entered his mouth as he tangled his hands in her hair and pulled her closer. She whimpered softly into his mouth as his fangs popped out, Rey pulling back with a soft gasp.

"No, don't, please--" Ben whined hoarsely and Rey laughed as a few tears slid down her cheeks, grabbing his face and pressing their foreheads together. 

"Ben, I need to get you real food--"

"I don't want real food," He pushed her off of him and quickly got on top of her, Rey breathing shakily as she stared up at him. _I want you._

She stayed silent for a moment before tilting her head back and to the side, Ben letting out a single breath as his eyes flashed excitedly. He immediately dove down and tore his fangs into her neck, Rey crying out loudly as she clung to him.

 _Oh, fuck_ , he moaned loudly as he drank, rolling his hips against hers as his eyes nearly rolled back. _Oh, fuck, Rey, you didn't tell me it'd be anything as euphoric as this!_

Her cries quickly turned to loud, high pitched moans, her hips meeting his movements as her eyes fluttered closed. She didn't care that her blood was staining the comforter or that her blood was running down her shoulder and collarbone. She didn't care because this was the very thing she'd always wanted without fully realizing it.

He pulled back with a loud moan, his head falling back as he sat up. "Oh, _fuck_..." He laughed breathlessly as he closed his eyes, Rey instantly bolting up and pulling him in for a kiss after a moment of regaining her senses.

The kiss was purely animalistic, all teeth with no sweetness, and they frantically pulled at each other's clothes as they both growled into each other's mouths. 

"I love you," Rey pulled back and Ben tore her sweater clean in half. "Fuck, I lied to myself. I lied to myself, I love you covered in blood! It fits you so fucking well, bleeding _Christ_ \--"

"You didn't tell me I'd feel this _alive_ ," He hissed as he tore her bra off, Rey tearing his shirt and throwing it somewhere off to the side. Fuck the shirt, he was all that mattered right now. "God, all I want to do is devour you, Rey,"

"Fucking _do it_!" She snarled as her own fangs popped out and Ben growled loudly in excitement as he pushed her down on her back.

Before she even knew it he was inside of her, Rey screaming as she threw her hand back and sunk her nails in his back.

"Fucking shit," Ben snapped his hips forward as she wrapped her legs around his waist, Ben diving down again and sinking his fangs on the opposite of her neck this time. It felt like he was splitting her in half, that he'd rip her right down the middle at any moment. Pain blurred with pleasure, and in that moment, they were both gone.

The next several hours were a blur to both him and her. To the human eye, all they looked like were a blur that moved from one place in the room to the next every several minutes. All Rey could do was scream and cry out, the room slowly beginning to be soaked in blood (even the ceiling, and she wasn't exactly sure how she was going to clean that).

"You didn't tell me it would be like this on purpose, didn't you?" He purred loudly in her ear as he fucked her against the wall, Rey whining loudly as she buried his face in his neck. "You knew I'd beg you to turn me at every chance I got if you told me it would feel like this, didn't you?"

"Y-you talk too much," Rey gasped before tearing his fangs into his shoulder, Ben roaring loudly as he thrusted harder up into her. _You should learn when to shut up, Ben 'The Refrigerator' Solo._

"A-ah, ha-ha, shut the fuck up," He groaned shakily and Rey purred loudly against his shoulder as she drank greedily. "D-don't--ah, _fuck_ \--don't ever call me that while I'm fucking the living daylights out of you,"

 _But it's adorable_ , she pulled back and lapped at the wound hungrily before crying out as he slammed into her with every ounce of strength he had. She saw stars in her eyes in that moment, hot white flashing in her vision as her body trembled violently.

An hour later and they were on the bed, Rey beneath him with her thighs at his hips as he continued to slam into her. "You also didn't tell me I'd have this much stamina," He leaned down and sank her fangs into her breast, Rey screaming as she tangled her hands in his hair. They were both covered head to toe in blood at this point, the room looking as if someone had dyed everything deep red.

"Fucking perfect," He slurred as he came up, licking the wound before taking her perky bud into her mouth as his other hand engulfed her other breast. "You're fucking perfect." He came up with a wet 'pop' and Rey felt delirious with everything happening.

His lips were suddenly on hers and she eagerly kissed back, Rey mewling loudly into his mouth at the taste of her own blood on his tongue. He never stilled his hips, not even for a moment, and Rey felt like she was going to explode.

They didn't stop until fifteen minutes until dawn, Rey laying on top of him with him still inside of her as they had just finished.

"Fuck..." Ben breathed as he closed his eyes, Rey humming softly in content as she reached up without looking and touched his heavily blood stained cheek. "Fuck, Rey... _fuck_..."

"Good?" She smiled tiredly and he laughed tiredly in response, his arms wrapping around her and holding her safely against him. 

"Better than good," He grinned with fangs and Rey silently preened at his words. "My throat doesn't even hurt anymore."

"It will when we wake, trust me, and the same goes for me. We both took a lot from each other, and it'll take more than ten humans for both of us to replenish what we took." She sighed and he hummed quietly in response.

"Fine with me..." He muttered sleepily and Rey slowly slid off of him, both of them hissing softly at the loss of each other. 

"We should shower now before the blood dries--well, the fresh blood dries. We've been going at this for more than seven hours." Rey stood up after getting off the bed and stretched, Ben opening his eyes and looking over at her.

"Or," He pulled her back on the bed, trapping him beneath her as he moved down. "We could just stay here." He grinned before diving in between her thighs and Rey screamed for the millionth time that early morning.

\------------------------------------

"You two have fun last night?" Poe leaned forward against the kitchen counter as both Rey and Ben came into the beach house, the both of them soaked in blood yet again from their hunt. "And tonight, for that matter?"

"Mmn, we did, thank you," Ben smirked before picking Rey up and throwing her over his shoulder, Rey squealing in delight as he gave her ass a light smack. "Did you and Finn have fun wherever you two were last night? We didn't feel your presence in the house."

"We thought it'd be best if you two had time alone to yourselves," Poe took a sip from his coffee mug, his lips slightly stained red. "You know, to make up for being complete dicks."

"We appreciated it!" Rey chirped and Ben chuckled softly as she excitedly kicked her feet. "Did you make it look like Ben died on that rooftop?"

"Oh, yeah, where do you think I've been?" Finn came walking in and Rey bit her lower lip with a smile. "I made an anonymous call and everything, Ben's blood is there as well as all the other corpses. And don't worry, I got rid of all evidence of our DNA. May I suggest Texas for our next state to reside in?"

"I love Texas!" Rey gasped excitedly and Ben chuckled yet again. "We can get a cute little country house!"

"Already on it!" Poe pulled out his phone and Ben nodded at Finn in appreciation, the other vampire winking at him before Ben took Rey back to their bedroom. 

Thirty minutes later and they were out of the shower, Rey laying on top of Ben on top of new bedsheets. The rest of the room was still red, but neither of them exactly cared.

"You're happy?" Rey asked as she leaned down, Ben gently pushing her hair back with a blinding smile.

"Of course I'm happy, I'm with you."

"Forever," Rey smiled as she kissed him, Ben kissing back as his eyes closed.

"Forever."

\------The End------


End file.
